What One May Never See
by Jesse A. Harper
Summary: How often do we go by something, and never notice it? Annora Thomas finds out just what she never noticed when flung into a fangirl's dream. There's only one problem, and a serious one at that: She's not a fangirl. DONE - there will be no sequel, ever.
1. Chapter One: Running

**What One May Never See**

**Chapter One: Running**

Annora rolled her eyes as she listened to the streams of chatter that permeated her history classroom; the teenager could care less about the school gossip and politics. She let out an aggravated sigh as yet another ball of wadded up notebook paper bounced off her back.

"God, I **hate **the days when we have substitutes," she muttered as she eyeballed the elderly man sitting at their teacher's desk, pointedly ignoring the chaos around him. A black-haired girl with coke-bottle glasses seated next to her expertly raised her binder up to her face to deflect yet another one of the flying balls of paper.

"I don't blame you, at all," she whispered fervently before returning to her drawing.

Annora looked over, and raised an eyebrow when she caught sight of what the girl was drawing. She knew that it was some anime character named Envy that Katie thought was cute, but to her, it just looked like some guy wearing a miniskirt doing his damndest to look like a gay palm tree.

"So, Katie, I take it that you have been reading manga, again."

Katie looked over at Annora and gave her a crooked grin before she returned to her sketching.

"Maybe," she answered cryptically. Annora looked at her friend skeptically and raised her eyebrows.

"Right…so, drawing an anorexic palm tree isn't connected to manga?" Annora barely managed to repress a snort of derision. "You lie. You lie like a dog!"

Katie gave a muffled giggle as she reached out and tugged playfully on a lock of Annora's long, honey brown hair. "Says you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know; I'm the party pooper."

Annora suddenly let out a startled yelp and whirled around in her seat to plant her hand on the cheek of the boy sitting directly behind her, murder shining in her eyes.

"Michael, you might want to think about what you just did and the sheer stupidity of it," the sixteen-year old hissed as she glared at the boy. He simply smirked at her and high-fived one of his friends, who handed him ten bucks, obviously the prize for groping her rear-end. Katie winced as Michael was immediately relieved of the money, and the use of his hands for the next week.

With anger still burning in her brown eyes, Annora sat back down again, pointedly ignoring the groans of pain coming from the seat behind her, and began to idly sketch a Celtic knot onto a corner of her notebook paper. She was shaken out of her revere when Katie threw a small paperback book onto her desk. Annora raised an eyebrow as she set down her pencil and picked up the book for further examination. The front cover showed a boy about her age with blonde hair in a braid and wearing a red jacket standing in front of a suit of armor while pulling on a pair of white gloves, with the title 'Fullmetal Alchemist' proudly displayed at the top. The teenager scrutinized the graphic novel for a few more moments before she looked up at Katie.

"No."

"Aww, c'mon Annora! Just read it! It's only the first volume; it's not like it's gonna kill you!" Katie pleaded, giving her friend puppy-dog eyes.

"No, Katie, I don't like this kind of stuff! You do! Besides, I think you've tortured me enough with your talk of 'alchemy' and 'homiculmi' or whatever the heck they are."

"But… if you read it, you'll understand it a little better."

"Okay, now my answer's gone from no to hell no."

"Aww, **please**?"

"No. I don't read comic books with fags in them."

"There are no fags in 'FMA'!"

"Yes there are. That guy that you were drawing just a few minutes ago looks queerer than a three-dollar bill!"

"Envy-kun is not gay!"

"Oh yes he is! How the hell do you explain the tank top and miniskirt?!"

"Haven't you heard? That's the latest style!"

"Bullshit. Only in your weird little world."

"Meanie!"

"Rabid fangirl!"

Katie huffed in an offended tone before she gave her friend an evil grin and slammed the manga volume down onto Annora's desk.

"Read it, dammit!" she ordered before she sat down at her own desk and pulled on her headphones, blasting the ending theme from 'FMA' from her MP3 player. Annora rolled her eyes and gave a sigh of resignation as she slid the graphic novel into her backpack just before the bell rang.

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"Argh, I **hate **it when Katie does that," Annora muttered bad-temperedly as she trudged down the street from her bus stop, a cold wind cutting through the thick navy wool of her sweater and blowing her charcoal-colored scarf out behind her. The sixteen-year old scowled and pulled up the collar of her black and blue letterman's jacket in an effort to block out the cold air. A particularly strong gust almost made her lose her scarf, although she then decided that after that, it would be a good idea to tie her scarf around her neck instead of wrapping it.

A shudder ran through the teenager's thin frame as she rounded the corner of the street she was on. Surprise flitted across Annora's features as something cold and white landed on her nose. Annora reached out and stared as several flakes of the wet substance landed on her palm and melted.

"Snow?"

The teenager looked up at the sky and was amazed to see thick dark clouds hanging overhead as they released their white cargo. With a shrug, Annora resumed her trek home, unaware of the confused stares that passersby were giving her. One thing she did hear was the comment that a pair of elderly women made as she walked by them.

"Look at that girl; the way she dresses is appalling! I never thought I'd ever see a girl walking around wearing boys clothes. She ought to be ashamed of herself!"

Annora glanced over to the side to look at the women out of the corner of her eye.

"If you're going to insult someone, at least wait until they're out of hearing range," she pointed out coolly. The woman gave a gasp and Annora rolled her eyes as she walked off.

'_Everybody knows the world is **full **of stupid people," _she thought wryly as she rounded the corner to her street. Her eyes widened and a shocked gasp escaped her lips as she stared at the spot on her street where her house was supposed to be. Instead of her sixty-some-odd year old wood frame and brick house, there stood a dark alleyway.

"What in the hell?" Annora whispered as she stared at the alleyway in surprise. That had **definitely **not been there when she had left for school that morning.

The teenager looked around her in surprise as she scrutinized her surroundings closely. Her house was near the outskirts of town, near the edge of the forest. Heck, her backyard was almost part of the forest, except for the wooden fence separating it from the rest of the pine tree and oak woods. But here… there were massive brick buildings on either side of the street, mostly homes, with a few businesses thrown into the mix, and of course the dark alley in front of her.

'_There's no way I'm on my street… it's too different,' _Annora studied the building she was standing closest too before she just shook her head. Judging from the age of the buildings around her, she had gotten off on the wrong bus stop and gone into the historical section of Flagstaff. The sixteen-year old let out an exasperated sigh as she shrugged her shoulders. Seeing as she was already here, what harm would it do for her to do a little exploring?

A faint smile crept across her lips as she, against her better judgment, began to walk down the dim alley.

'_What's the worst that could happen?' _she reasoned mentally, shrugging her shoulders.

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**Fifteen minutes and may stray cats later**

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"Okay, I take that back, having god knows how many psychotic cats jump out at me is the worst that could happen," Annora grumbled as she stood in the middle of the deserted alley. She looked around her for a few seconds before she shook her head and gave an embarrassed laugh. "I probably just took a wrong turn on the way home from the bus stop and ended up on some other street. Man, I am such an idiot sometimes."

"Mmm, I'd have to agree with you," someone stated coolly behind her. The sixteen-year old let out a small gasp as she whirled around to face the person leaning nonchalantly up against a wall behind her.

"Who are you?" she demanded angrily as she backed up slightly while adopting a defensive position. The man, at least she **thought **he was a man, let out a chilling laugh as he stepped out from the dim shadows by the wall out into the center of the alley.

"What's wrong, girl? Are you scared?"

Annora looked at the man for a few moments, blinked a couple times to make sure that she wasn't seeing things, and then let out a snort of derision as she took in the man's messy, knee length greenish black hair, fingerless black gloves that went almost to his elbows, black tank top that revealed his stomach, black stockings with the part for the toes and heel cut off, and to top it all off, a black miniskirt. All in all, it was a fairly amusing sight. Annora knew right away who this guy was dressed up as, and failed to find anything remotely amusing about him following her.

(AN: If I was in Annora's place, I would have died laughing my ass off. It would take major cajones to walk around in public wearing **that **outfit.)

"Oh yeah, a cross-dressing, gay, anorexic palm tree. I **quiver** with fear," she shot back as she rolled her eyes, sarcasm practically dripping from her voice. The man dressed as Envy stared at her, slack-jawed in disbelief with his eyes almost rolling out of their sockets. The expression on his face was so funny that Annora pulled out her cell phone and snapped a picture of it. Once she had saved the picture and sent it to Katie, along with the text message 'Envy's reaction when you call him a gay palm tree,' she turned around and walked away. It was at about that point that the man dressed as Envy regained at least some semblance of speech.

"**Oi!"**

Annora didn't even turn around as she gave the guy the 'looser' sign. With an amused chuckle, the sixteen-year old walked out of the alleyway and turned the corner, only to stroll right into someone's chest with a loud 'clang'.

"Oww…" Annora muttered as she stumbled back a few feet and rubbed her abused nose.

"I'm so sorry, I should have been watching where I was going," she apologized as she looked at the person that she had plowed into. A large bead of sweat unconsciously ran down the back of her head as she stared at the metal breastplate in front of her. Slowly, the teenager looked up, and up, until she could see the head of the person wearing the armor. The person, surprisingly, bowed politely and replied in a voice that belonged to a young boy.

"No, I'm the one that should be apologizing. I need to be more careful," he said. Annora raised an eyebrow as she looked at the boy; she couldn't see the boy's face because of the helmet that he was wearing, but judging from the size of the suit of armor, he was a little over seven feet tall.

The boy seemed to sense her silent question and leaned up against the brick wall behind them.

"It's a hobby," he explained, rubbing the back of his head with a gauntlet clad hand. Annora felt her cheeks grow hot and knew that there was a good chance that she was blushing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

"It's okay, I get that a lot." The boy looked at her intently. "I hope you don't mind me asking, miss, but what's your name?"

"Annora," the sixteen-year old replied with a nagging sensation in the back of her mind that she had seen this boy before.

"My name's Alphonse, but most people just call me Al," the boy offered. Annora gave a small smile before a thoughtful frown crossed her face.

"What's wrong?"

"I know that I've heard your name before, but I can't remember where and it's driving me nuts," Annora admitted sheepishly. "I hate it when I do that."

Before Al could say anything, an angry shout interrupted them.

"Hey, you! Who do you think you are, calling me names like that?!"

Annora looked over her shoulder to see the man from earlier standing at the alley entrance, an expression of homicidal fury on his face. The teenager gave a sigh and rolled her eyes as she gave Al a suffering look.

"Looks like I've gotta go; someone paged the idiot brigade."

With that, she turned around and ran off with Envy in hot pursuit. Alphonse Elric stared at Annora's retreating back for several long moments in confusion, a sweatdrop running down the back of his helmet. He was shaken out of his stunned trance when his brother came up behind him and smacked him soundly on the back. The suit of armor jumped about a foot in the air in surprise.

"Brother! You startled me!"

Edward Elric looked at Al, and raised an eyebrow. "A girl just ran off with Envy chasing her, and **I **startled you?"

"Yes."

Ed rolled his golden eyes and sighed as he shook his head. "C'mon, lets go find that girl before something happens to her. I have a feeling that she's not exactly from around here."

With that, the two Elric brothers took off running off in the same direction as Annora and Envy.

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Annora looked behind her and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that she had lost Envy. It had taken over twenty minutes of running down random alleys, hopping fences and brick walls, and at one point, ducking behind a particularly foul-smelling dumpster at the back of a restaurant, to lose the persistent man. The teenager shifted her backpack up a bit into more comfortable position as she began to walk down the alley in an effort to find a way out. All of a sudden, a black cat jumped off of the top of a building and landed in front of her. Annora gave a startled yelp, and then began to laugh when she saw what had scared her.

"That's sad, I got scared by a little cat," she muttered. Her embarrassment turned into shock when the cat suddenly transformed into a smirking Envy. Annora was only able to say one thing as she slowly backed away from the Homunculus.

"Oh **shit**."

She was in so much trouble.

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Okay, so this is my first FMA fanfiction, and I hope you all like it. Oh, if you're an Envy fan, just to warn you, I do not like Envy **at all**. So there will be a lot of palm tree bashing and other general forms of abuse.

Anyways, please read and review! Reviews keep me happy and stop me from repeatedly incinerating Dante, not that anyone really wants to stop me. (Smirks evilly.)

Dante: Why you little… the fans **love **me!

Wandering Hitokiri: Oh please, don't make me laugh! (Thinks for a few moments and falls over laughing anyways.) Ah, but I digress. (Points at Dante.) Anyways, you're nothing more than the equivalent of some old lady using Botox and plastic surgery to keep looking like she's young, well except you steal people's bodies to stay young.

Dante: (Glares at Wandering Hitokiri.) Girl, you are nothing but a fool.

Wandering Hitokiri: Surprisingly, you're not the first to say that. But you're also not the first to learn why you never want to tick me off. (Snaps her fingers and Dante explodes.) Okay, now I feel better.


	2. Chapter Two: Duct Tape and Death Threats

**Chapter Two:**

**Duct Tape and Death Threats**

Envy smirked evilly at Annora, who stared at him like he had grown a second head. The sixteen-year old mentally just ran over what she had just seen in the past minute, and quickly decided that she had either lost her mind, or this was some sick dream.

"What, no snappy comebacks?" Envy asked mockingly as he took another step towards Annora.

"Shut it, fathead."

The Homunculus made a low sound in the back of his throat to indicate that he was not amused. Annora just rolled her eyes and glared at the man.

"Just to let you know, you need to stop acting so damn cocky. No man is invincible."

Envy lunged forward, grabbed her arm and dragged her close to him, sticking his face right into hers.

"And why is that, wench?"

Annora smirked at him as she swiftly brought up her knee to connect with Envy's groin, hard. The Homunculi's eyes bugged out and he immediately released the sixteen-year old, who kicked his feet out from under him and sent him flying into an empty trashcan that was located right behind him. Annora seized the metal lid and slammed it down on top of the can with all of her strength.

Before the stunned shapeshifter could recover, the teenager pulled out a large roll of duct tape from her backpack and taped the lid down securely. She then jumped up and sat on the metal trashcan, an unholy grin flickering across her face as the can began to shake violently and the present occupant began to curse up a storm. Annora looked down and allowed herself to smirk knowingly at the shuddering lid.

"That's why no man is invincible, dumbass."

A series of extremely foul curses reverberated from within the metal container in response to her sarcastic comment.

Annora's victory was short lived when Ed and Al came around the corner and stared at her in disbelief as she hopped off the trashcan, which promptly fell over on its side.

"Umm… is Envy…?" Ed asked hesitantly as he pointed at the bucking trashcan. Annora gave him a knowing grin as she kicked the can so that it rolled into the side of a nearby building.

"Yeah, he is. He decided that he wanted to imitate Houdini, but sadly, he can't get out right now, due to the lack of brain cells."

This time, it was Annora's turn to step back as Ed smirked evilly and clapped his hands together before placing them on the metal trashcan. There was a flash of bright blue light and a strong gust of wind; once that had faded and the snow had settled, Annora was surprised to see that the trashcan had become a solid metal tube with a handle at the top. The teenager grabbed her backpack and began to back away slowly, her brown eyes wide with uncertainty.

Ed smirked as he dusted off his white gloved hands and began to turn around.

"So can you tell us why-" he trailed off when he saw Annora running away from them as though her life depended on it. A massive sweatdrop appeared on the back of the alchemist's head and his right eyebrow began to twitch violently.

"Hey Al, could you pick up that trashcan?" Ed shouted over his shoulder as he shot off after the fleeing teenager. "I'm gonna go catch that girl!"

Alphonse stared at the shuddering trashcan and sighed as he picked it up and ran after his older brother.

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'_What the hell just happened back there?!' _Annora wondered as she dashed through the alleyways frantically. The teenager was officially spooked from what she had just witnessed, so she was extremely relieved when she emerged from the endless network of alleys onto the main streets. She sprinted down the sidewalk, focusing more on finding surroundings that she was familiar with than where she was going. The sixteen-year old gave a startled gasp as she tripped over a piece of the sidewalk that was sticking up and collided head on with a certain pyro who just happened to be going in the opposite direction as her.

"Oww…" Annora groaned as she shook her head to clear it. She was startled when a hand grabbed the back of her jacket and lifted her to her feet.

"Are you okay, missy?" Colonel Roy Mustang asked. Annora stared at him in shock while all of the blood drained from her face. Unlike with Ed and Al, she knew perfectly well who it was that she was looking as, seeing as his face practically covered every inch of Katie's bedroom. The sixteen-year old placed her right hand on her forehead and gave a groan.

"Oh great, it's official; I have lostit. Of all the people for me to run into, it **has** to be the pervert."

Roy Mustang looked at her and quirked an eyebrow in question. "Pervert?"

Annora glanced up at the black-haired man and looked him dead in the eye.

"Miniskirts as part of the women's military uniform?" she asked in a deadpan tone with both eyebrows raised. The Flame Alchemist stared at her in shock for several long moments, rendered completely speechless.

"You… how did-how did you know that?!"

The teenager allowed a ghost of a smile to cross her lips before she gave her response.

"I'm psychic."

A very stunned Colonel Mustang stared at her before his expression changed to one of disbelief. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, a shout rang out.

"Colonel, stop her!"

Annora turned around slightly and caught sight of Edward running towards them. Mustang grabbed a hold of her right forearm as he looked over at Ed.

"What'd she do, Fullmetal? Call you 'chibi chump'?" he called out, a knowing smirk on his face. Annora could have sworn that she heard something snap over in Ed's direction at that point. The teenager immediately decided that she did not want to be in the area and began to struggle against the Flame Alchemist's iron grip.

"Let me go!" she cried out as she attempted to yank her arm out of the Colonel's grasp. Mustang tightened his grip on her as he stared at her intently.

"I don't think so, kid."

Annora scowled at the man before she slid her backpack down her right arm and swung it into the Flame Alchemist's stomach, hard. Mustang let out a strangled 'oof!' as the wind was driven out of his lungs and released Annora, much to her relief. The sixteen-year old didn't even spare a backward glance as she hefted the strap of her backpack back up onto her shoulder and took off running.

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With a sigh of relief, Annora sat down on an area of pavement that didn't have snow on it and leaned up against the brick wall of yet another alley.

"Man, this has been one weird day," she muttered as she ran a hand through her honey-brown bangs. Another sigh escaped her lips, this one of exasperation, as she looked at her blue-gray canvas backpack sitting next to her. The sixteen-year old unzipped the middle compartment, pulled out Katie's 'Fullmetal Alchemist' manga, and flipped it open to a random page. She silently skimmed the book for a few minutes before she snapped it shut and stuffed it back into her backpack, a scowl on her face.

"It's not possible, is it?" she asked quietly as she leaned back and closed her eyes.

Annora's eyes immediately shot open as the ground beneath her began to shake violently. Without a moment's hesitation, she got to her feet and grabbed her backpack before moving away from the wall.

"What **is **this… an earthquake?"

The sixteen-year old gave a startled yelp as a gigantic hand made out of stone shot up from the pavement and attempted to grab her. She leapt backwards and whirled around before jumping on top of a trashcan, and then a dumpster, to avoid the hand. The stone appendage stopped for a few moments before it sped over to her perch.

"Fuck!" Annora swore as she grabbed the lip of the wooden fence that the dumpster was placed up against and vaulted over it expertly.

She landed on the concrete on the other side and almost fell flat on her butt before she regained her balance. The teenager stared at the wooden barrier apprehensively, hoping that it would stop the hand.

CRASH!

No such luck. The stone hand plowed right through the fence, reducing it to matchwood as it sped towards her.

"Aww, shit," Annora muttered as she spun around, and for the third time that day, began to run.

"Damn it! Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?!" Annora gritted out as she sped down the alleyway and rounded a random corner in an attempt to ditch her inanimate pursuer. An eight-foot brick wall loomed up ahead, and a smile crept across the sixteen-year old's mouth as she put on an extra burst of speed.

She quickly hopped up onto an old wooden crate and jumped up, barely snagging the lip of the wall. The teenager swore foully under her breath as she struggled up onto the top of the wall and lay flat on her stomach. Panting from exertion, Annora looked back towards the entrance to the side alley, and was relieved to see that the stone hand had not followed her. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she sat up and straddled the brick wall with one leg on either side and allowed herself to slowly relax. At that moment, a strong gust of wind untangled her already loose scarf from around her neck (a byproduct from all the running she had just done), and it slid off her neck and floated down to land in the snow not five feet from the wall.

Annora blinked several times in surprise before she glared at the hapless piece of fabric.

"Stupid scarf," she grumbled under her breath. Cautiously, she looked around her to make sure that she hadn't been followed by anyone before she slowly scooted down and landed on the wooden crate that she had used to climb up the wall with a soft 'thud'. The sixteen-year old crouched down on the rough wooden surface and slid off her backpack, resting it on the lid of the crate. She quickly jumped off the crate and ran over to where her scarf lay, which she picked up and stuffed into the pocket of her jacket just as the ground began to shake again.

"Not again-" Annora began, only to stop in mid-phrase as a wave of liquid stone rose up and encased her legs from the knees down, effectively immobilizing her.

"What… what the hell?!" she yelped as she struggled to break free. "This is **not** happening! It's not possible!"

Movement at the entrance of the side caught Annora's attention, causing her to look up from her imprisoned feet.

"It is if you know alchemy," Edward pointed out calmly, crossing his arms over his chest. Annora sent a supremely dirty look in his direction just as two other people rounded the corner to the alley. One of them was Alphonse, who had the trashcan that contained Envy slung over his shoulder. The other turned out to be one very upset member of the Amestris military, who also, ironicly, happened to be an alchemist.

"Nice work, Fullmetal," Colonel Mustang said as he strode foreward, pulling on his white ignition-cloth gloves while Al set down his metal burden. "Now just keep her still until I'm finished with her. I have some questions that I want to ask this girl."

"What do you mean by that, jerk?" Annora spat as she glared daggers at the Flame Alchemist.

"Assualting a State Alchemist is an offense, girl," Mustang pointed out as he brought his fingers together. Annora merely rolled her eyes in response.

"An offense to you, or an offense to everyone that actually believes it the same crap that you do?" Annora responded sarcastically. "'State Alchemist' my ass. The last time **I **checked, there is no such thing."

"Oh really?" the Colonel asked, raising an eyebrow. "Then perhaps you can explain this."

The Flame Alchemist snapped his fingers together, creating a spark between them. He then sent a tongue of flame in Annora's direction, extinguishing it before it got too close to her face. Annora's eyes widened in fear and the blood drained out of her face almost instantly.

Edward rolled his eyes upwards and shook his head. "Quit playing pyro, Colonel Bastard."

Mustang directed a poisonous glare at the younger alchemist before a knowing smirk crept across his mouth.

"Shut it, runt."

"What?!" Ed exploded, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "Who're you calling a runt so tiny that they can fit through the eye of a needle?!"

"Umm… Brother, he didn't say that," Alphonse pointed out as he was forced to restrain his older sibling. Annora, who had regained her attitude, just rolled her eyes at the entire scene.

"Idiot," she muttered softly. That got Ed's attention.

"Who're you calling an idiot? Last time I checked, you're the one that's trapped in rock right now!"

Annora literally saw red at the comment. She lunged at the boy, intent on causing him extreme bodily harm, only to be held back by her stone encased feet.

"Why you little-" she growled, unconciously clenching and unclenching her hands. "When I get my hands on you, you are **dead**!"

The Fullmetal Alchemist only smirked at her, which served only to further irritate the already angry teenager. Roy Mustang quickly stepped in between the too, preventing stronger words from being exchanged.

"As intersting as this is to watch, I'm afraid that I have some questions that need to be answered," the Flame Alchemist stated calmly before he turned his dark gaze to Annora.

"What was in that bag of yours, girl?" the Colonel demanded as he stood face to face with her. The sixteen-year old gave him a knowing grin in response.

"Why, did it hurt?"

Ed burst out laughing at this statement. He didn't seem to notice the deadly look that Mustang was giving him. "The great 'Flame Alchemist', hurt by a teenage girl?! This is great!"

"Shut up, Fullmetal! You wouldn't think so if you had ben the one hit by it, and besides, that stupid thing was heavy!"

With that, the man looked back at Annora and adopted a stern expression.

"Well, what's in it?"

"None of your god damn business."

Mustang quirked an eyebrow in surprise before he turned around smartly on his heel and strolled towards Annora's backpack. The teenager's eyes widened in shock when she realized what the Flame Alchemist was going to do.

"You bastard!" she spat, her eyes blazing angrily. "If you so much as **touch **my backpack, I will **personally **casterate you with a spork!"

Ed and Al both looked over at each other and shrugged, while Mustang flinched slightly.

"What's a spork?"

"What does it sound like, moron?" Annora replied sarcastically. Ed twitched at the jab and whirled around to face her.

"What did you just call me?!"

"You heard me, moron!"

The two bickering teenagers were soon interupted by Mustang calling Edward over.

"Hey, Fullmetal, you might want to come take a look at this."

Annora looked over and went an interesting shade of white when she caught sight of what the Colonel was holding up.

"Crap," she whispered as Ed went over and examined Katie's 'Fullmetal Alchemist' graphic novel. The sixteen-year old suddenly found herself face to face with a very angry Edward Elric, who grabbed the front of her sweater and pulled her face down close to his.

"Who the hell are you, and where the hell did you get this?!" he demanded, shoving the manga into her face.

"My name is Annora, and that is **not** mine. It belongs to a friend of mine!" she protested. Ed gave a snort of derision as he let go of her sweater.

"If I had a sen for every time someone said that, I'd be a millionaire," Mustang muttered dryly. Annora looked over at him and scowled angrily.

"Look, I'm telling the truth, damn it! That's not mine!"

It was at that point that Annora's cell phone began to ring, its slightly muffled bell tone echoing in the still winter air. Everyone except Annora look at each other in confusion.

"Call me crazy," Ed began hesitantly. "But did I just hear a phone ring?"

Her phone rang again, and everyone in the alleyway watched in amazement as Annora pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket and looked at the screen before flipping it open.

"Hello?" the sixteen-year old asked quietly. She flinched and held the phone away from her ear as a loud, high-pitched squeal issued from the other end of the line.

"Annora, Annora, Annora!" Katie yelled excitedly from her end. "Where'd you get that picture of Envy?!"

The teenager sweatdropped as she stared incredulously at the phone in her hand.

"Umm… the Internet?" she offered tentatively as she put the phone back up to her ear again. She was forced to quickly yank it away from her head just as Katie let out another series of loud squeals of excitement.

"What website?!"

Annora looked at her phone with an expression of horror on her face. "Oh God. She's gone into rabid fangirl mode," she whispered quietly. The teenager looked at the cell phone in her hand and silently debated on the merits of hanging up right then. She knew that Katie had to pratically be screaming into her phone, seeing as how she and everyone else in the alley could hear the entire conversation without the phone being next to their ear. The look on Ed and Mustang's face was all the evidence she needed to convince her of that fact. She gave a sigh of exasperation and rolled her eyes as she put the phone back up to her ear.

"Look, Katie, I'm gonna have to let you go… I'm kind of in a **lot **of trouble right now."

"Why?"

"Surprisingly, because of you."

"What'd I do?"

"Let's just say that you better hope, for **your **sake, that I've forgotten about what's gone on in the past hour by the time I get to school tomorrow."

Katie paused for a few moments, obviously confused, before she changed the topic.

"So, have you read the book yet?"

All the people in the alley watched in interest as Annora clenched her free hand so hard that her nails dug into her palm and gritted her teeth.

"No, Katie," she gritted out between clenched teeth. "I **haven't **read your book, and somehow, I don't think that I really want to right now."

"Why?" Katie whined.

"Because I'm up to my eyeballs in shit because of it!" Annora roared as her patience finally snapped. "Goodbye!"

She swiftly snapped her phone shut and stuffed it back into the pocket of her jeans as she struggled to gain some control over her anger.

Colonel Mustang quirked an eyebrow in interest once he had gotten over the total and complete strangeness of the event that had just taken place.

"Was that… a telephone… that you just used?" he asked. Annora gave him a look that said 'okay, just how stupid are you?' and nodded slowly, unsure as to where this particular conversation was going. Mustang looked thoughtful at this information before he turned around to face Ed.

"I can definitely see why you believe that she's one of the Homunculi; that would certainly explain why that individual, Envy I believe it was, was chasing after her."

"Wait, what?" Annora blinked a couple of times before she raised her eyebrows in confusion. "You think that I'm hacking up a lugie?"

Mustang face vaulted at this remark, while Al began to laugh softly.

"It's not hacking up a lugie, it's Homunculi," he explained while Ed kicked the trashcan that contained Envy into a wall to shut up the now-swearing Homunculus. "Brother thought you were a Homunculus because Envy was chasing after you."

"Wait a sec, you thought that I was a … whatever… because the crossdressing looser was chasing me?" The sixteen-year old burst out laughing at this. "The only reason that he was chasing me was because he was pissed that I called him an anorexic, cross-dressing palm tree."

The trash can that Envy was trapped in began to shake violently, while Ed almost fell over laughing.

"Stop calling me that!" the homunculus raged. "And stop laughing, Fullmetal Twerp!"

"Shut up, bevis. You're the one that got your ass kicked by a girl!" Annora shot back before Ed could even open his mouth. Mustang rolled his eyes and gave a low groan of aggrivation.

"Oh good lord, it's a female version of Fullmetal," he muttered as he massaged the bridge of his nose. Both teens glared at him in response.

"Am not !" they both shouted simultaously. Mustang only shook his head.

"I rest my case."

Annora twitched violently at this statement, but she at least amnaged to retain **some** control over her temper. What the older man said next, however, was what sent her over the edge.

"You're going to have to come back with us, girl."

"What?!" Annora yelped.

"Alphonse, could you carry her? I don't trust her to walk on her own without taking off."

Al nodded and wrapped his arms around Annora while Ed released her feet from the concrete.

"You can't do this, you bastards!" the teenager raged as she struggled furiously against her captor, a murderous light shining in her brown eyes. Ed only ignored her as he grabbed Envy's trashcan while Mustang looked her dead in the eye.

"Yes we can, missie. You are under suspicion of being a Homunculus, and you assualted an officer of the military."

With that parting comment, he turned around and began to walk away, still holding Annora's bag. As Al picked her up, the sixteen-year old began to spout a series of extremely foul curses directed at Ed, Mustang, Envy, and Alphonse. It was only when she had run out of breath did she momentarily fall silent. Once she had gotten her breath back, Annora began to mutter darkly under her breath.

"Umm… Brother?" Alphonse asked in a slightly panicky tone. "She's muttering something about killing Katie, whoever that is."

Ed looked back at his younger brother in surprise before he narrowed his eyes at Annora.

"Stop scaring my brother," he growled. Annora chose to respond to his remark with an obscene hand gesture. Ed rolled his eyes and returned his golden gaze ahead of him, pointedly ignoring the angry teen. It was about that point that Annora started up her angry tirade once again.

It was only when Annora told Mustang to go do something physically impossible, loudly, while they were in the middle of a busy street en route to headquarters, that Mustang snapped.

"Fullmetal, gag her, now." He ordered tersely before turning around to address all of the bewildered townspeople staring at them.

"Government business, move along. Nothing to see here," he explained, shooing curious pedestrians away.

Annora eyeballed Edward uneasily as he pulled a large hankerchief out of his pocket with a relieved look on his face. Apparently, he was as tired as Mustang was of listening to her continous stream of obscenities.

"Shutting up now," she muttered as she clamped her mouth shut.

"Thank God," the Flame Alchemist muttered as they entered the main gates to the millitary building. The small party received several strange stares as they entered the building.

"Fullmetal, find Second Lieutenant Havoc and have him take that hellion to a holding cell," Mustang ordered. "If you need me, I'll be in my office."

Ed opened his mouth to fire back some smart-ass remark just as he spotted Major Armstrong headed in their direction. Quickly, the teenage alchemist spun around and ran off to find Havoc.

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**Twenty minutes later**

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Annora scowled as she sat, cross-legged, on a wooden cot with a mattress on it in a small cell. Besides the cot with its blanket and pillow, the cell had only a mirror, sink, and toilet as its sparse furnishings. The tenager had managed to get her backpack back, intact, minus Katie's 'FMA' manga. With a sigh, the girl flopped down on her back and stared up at the stone ceiling.

"Well this sucks," she muttered.

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Woot! Five reviews! Thank you everyone for reviewing. This fic is a joint effort between me and my friend **mustang-013** , which we created during our spare time in study hall before winter break. I write it, and we both come up with various ideas as to what we put in it.

Lightning Dragon Alchemist: Don't say that, I really like your fic. Besides, if you ask me, your fic is way better than mine. -.-; Strange how we think that another person's work is better than our own when we review, ne? Anyways, I'm so glad that you like my fic; it's reviews like yours that keep me writing them.

Rurouni: My fic rocks your socks? Why thank you so very much, I'm flattered.

Liah Cauthon: So Annora reminds you of your sister? Heh, that's funny, seeing as Annora is based heavily off of me and my own personality. Believe it or not, I actually just made Katie up; she's not based off of anyone that I know, well… except this one girl that's in one of my classes, but very loosely. She's obsessed with Ed, and squeals whenever I pull up a picture of him on the internet.

hee hee: Yeah, Dante is diluded. Personally, I think she needs to see a shrink pronto. Don't worry, the body-snatching sea hag will meet her just deserts sooner or later in my story. _(Dante: Hey! I am not a sea hag!)_

animeroxmyworld: I'm glad you think my fic is hilarious. I actually tried to make it that way, so I'm glad that I was successful.


	3. Chapter Three: Living Arangements

**Chapter Three:**

**Living Arrangements**

Second Lieutenant Havoc watched Annora in interest from his spot on a chair right across the hall from Annora's holding cell. The teenager had been cursing up a storm when Ed and Al had brought her in, only to quiet down once she had been put in the cell. Havoc rolled his eyes as he lit a cigarette: Mustang had given him orders to watch the girl until he had time to question her, meaning that Havoc was probably going to be there all night. The man let out an aggravated groan as he slumped down in his chair; he had to cancel another date with his girlfriend for this?! The second lieutenant sighed mentally; this kid had to have done something **really **bad to deserve this.

'_She's dressed kind of weird though,' _he realized as he studied the sixteen-year old closely. Annora had taken off her jacket and sweater, laying them down at the end of her cot as she removed her tennis shoes and set them down on the floor next to her backpack. She was now seated cross-legged on her bed with a thick textbook opened up and resting on her legs with a piece of paper placed in the book, writing and occasionally pulling out some black object that she would punch the keys on before writing down the information.

(AN: That black object that Havoc is seeing is a graphing calculator. Annora has one in her backpack all the time just for everyday use and homework purposes. It's so much easier to have it there than at home; you don't need to borrow someone else's when you need to use one.)

It was only when she sat up straight that Havoc got a clear view of what Annora was wearing. It turned out to be a black t-shirt with the phrase "You say '**psycho'** like it's a bad thing" printed on it in bold white lettering with a royal blue long-sleeved shirt on underneath, and a pair of plain denim blue jeans. The teenager didn't notice Havoc's silent examination, seeing as she was engrossed in her writing. The second lieutenant had continued to smoke his cigarette, when Annora let out a satisfied 'Ah-ha!'.

"Finally!" she exclaimed as she threw the book and pencil down on her bed. "Burn in hell, you sadistic little bastard!"

Havoc cocked an eyebrow in question as he stared at her. "Hey, kid. Why the hell are you talking to a book?"

Annora made a strangled noise of surprise and jumped slightly at the sound of the man's voice; she had forgotten that anyone was watching her.

"Ummm… it's my math homework," she explained, slightly embarrassed that someone had witnessed her little outburst. Surprisingly, Havoc nodded in understanding.

"I remember those days all too well," he admitted as he blew out a puff of cigarette smoke. "They stunk."

"Tell me about it."

Havoc stood up and stretched out his arms before he strode over to the metal bars that formed the front of Annora's cell.

"What kind of problems are you working on?" he asked as he held out his large, calloused hand. Annora looked over at the sandy-haired man for a few moments before she handed her math book and the completed problems through the cell bars. Jean Havoc opened up the thick textbook, and almost swallowed his cigarette in surprise when he caught sight of the complex geometry problems in the book and the solutions worked out on the notebook paper. He silently handed the book back to Annora.

"Damn, what're they teaching you kids in school these days?"

"How to construct atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction," she replied with a perfectly straight face. Havoc automatically did a double take.

"What?!"

Annora looked back at him and gave the older man a teasing grin. "I was just kidding. We pretty much learn the same stuff, except that some teachers teach it to us a little earlier."

Havoc let out a sigh of relief as he sat back down. "That's good. The Chief would've had a fit if you had said something like that to him." He paused for a second before he looked over at her seriously. "You've never blown something up before, have you?"

"The last time I did something like that, I was ten years old and my brother had decided to use some of his fireworks to blow up a couple of marshmallow bunnies after Easter."

Havoc's eyebrows shot up into his hairline when he heard this. "Why?"

"Because he convinced me that it would be funny."

"Oh." Havoc looked at her thoughtfully for a few moments before he asked. "Was it funny?"

Annora gave a small grin of amusement at this. "Sort of. My dad came out back right after the firecrackers had gone off and saw little bits of blow up marshmallow bunny all over the place and told us to clean it up. It turns out that he had been watching us through the back window the whole time and just about died laughing when he saw Ethan just standing there, covered in 'Peep guts', as he dubbed it."

"Who's Ethan?"

"My brother. I was the smart one; I ran when he lit the firecracker fuse, but he just stood there while the marshmallow rabbits blew up, so consequently, he got hit with the melted debris."

Havoc actually laughed at this description. "Sounds pretty wild. I know I did some pretty strange things when I was a kid, but I never did anything like that."

"Yeah, both of my parents keep saying it's a wonder that Ethan and I both lived long enough to become teenagers. My dad used to always say that Ethan would never make it to eighteen, but he's almost twenty now, so I guess he's lucky."

The second lieutenant nodded in agreement as Annora turned around and was just about to sit back down on her cot when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror over the sink. The sixteen-year old's eyes widened marginally in shock before she strode over and stared at her reflection intently. She still looked the same, at least in the fact that she still had her regular hair and eye color, along with her normal skin tone, but she looked like a character straight out of one of Katie's manga books. To put it roughly, she looked like she had been animated!

Annora looked at her reflection thoughtfully for a few moments, wondering why she hadn't noticed it before. She then let out a sigh, turned around, walked back to her cot, and sat down.

"Oh, this is going to be a long night," she groaned.

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Colonel Roy Mustang sweated nervously as he applied his signature to yet another form from the almost infinite stack that lay on his desk, all under the watchful eye of Riza Hawkeye. The woman had her handgun out and cocked as she supervised her commanding officer.

"This really isn't necessary," Mustang muttered as he placed yet another signed form on the slowly growing pile of completed paperwork. Hawkeye raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Then why is it that the paperwork I gave you yesterday was never completed?" she asked. "Not to mention why is there an unusually large amount of ash in the trashcan under your desk?"

Mustang chose not to answer that question; it would only incriminate him further.

It was at this point that Maes Hughes walked in with a thick manila folder in hand and a cheery grin on his face.

"Good afternoon, Colonel!" he greeted Mustang as he handed the younger man the folder. Mustang glared at the forms venomously and wished vehemently that he had his ignition-cloth gloves on. Hawkeye gave him a warning look as the familiar expression of 'I'm going to incinerate something' appeared on Mustang's face. Hughes didn't seem to notice this as he continued to talk.

"Fullmetal and his brother have already recorded what happened to them, so all you have to do is interrogate the girl and find out where she got that book before you fill out what happened with you, and you're done!"

"Does that include personal injury, Hughes?" Mustang asked dryly. The lieutenant colonel shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid not."

"Interrogate?" Hawkeye asked quietly as she fixed her steely gaze on Mustang, a hint of caution in her voice. "What girl?"

The Flame Alchemist didn't even look up from the report, even though he recognized the thinly veiled warning. "Fullmetal and his brother found a girl being chased by the homunculus that we brought in. She not only ran away from Fullmetal, but she also assaulted me and had a rather disturbing book in her possession; so I need to interrogate her and find out where she obtained that book."

"Didn't she say where it came from when you asked her about it the first time?"

"She said it belonged to a friend, who loaned it to her. She also claims that she hasn't even read the book before, so she didn't know what was in it. I think she's lying just to stay out of trouble, personally."

Mustang jumped about a foot in the air when Hawkeye fired a shot by his head into the wall just as he began to get out of his chair.

"**I'll **go talk to her, sir," the blond-haired woman stated. "You have paperwork that you still need to finish."

"But-"

"But what, sir?" Hawkeye fixed her commanding officer with an intense stare. Colonel Mustang swallowed nervously before he spoke.

"It's just that… well, the girl may be a homunculus, and she's got a fouler mouth than Fullmetal."

The woman raised an eyebrow at this bit of information before she turned around and walked out of Mustang's office, shutting the door behind her. Hughes stared at the door for a few moments while Mustang let out a sigh of relief.

"So," the older man began, pulling some color photos out of his jacket pocket. "Want to see some pictures of my daughter, Elysia?"

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Annora had finished all of her homework in the time that she had been in the cell; needless to say, she was bored. As a result of this, she had pulled out her sketchbook and started to draw. She had just started to lightly sketch the outline of a fox, when Havoc jumped out of his seat and saluted to whoever had just walked up to the holding cell.

'_Looks like the arrogant pyro wants to have a few words with me, huh?' _she thought as she continued to work on her drawing. _'Well he's going to have to do something other than be an ass, 'cause I'm not going to tell him anything!'_

The teenager didn't even look up from her drawing as Havoc greeted the person.

"First Lieutenant, Ma'am! What brings you here?"

'_Ma'am?' _Annora wondered idly as she looked up. She was surprised to see Hawkeye looking at her intently before she turned around to face Havoc again.

"I'm questioning the girl in Colonel Mustang's place. Would you please let her out so I may take her to the interrogation room?"

Annora went pale at the phrase 'interrogation room'. Images of a dank, musty room filled with torture devices came to mind. Her hands unconsciously began to shake before she gripped the legs of her jeans in an effort to stop the tremors.

The teenager took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, which helped to calm her down a bit. The sound of her cell door being unlocked caught her attention.

"Come on, it won't take much time," Havoc pointed out as he held the metal barred door open. Annora looked up as she shoved her feet into her sneakers and pulled on her sweater before she stood up and walked over to the door. She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as she struggled to remain calm. Hawkeye noticed this as she placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder and gently steered her down the hallway. When they stopped in front of the door to the interrogation room, Annora seemed ready to bolt down the hallway.

"I'm just going to ask some questions, that's all," Hawkeye said calmly as she opened the door and escorted Annora inside. After closing the door behind her, the older woman went over and sat down in one of the wooden chairs, indicating that Annora should do the same. The sixteen-year old slid down onto the hard wooden seat and fixed her eyes on the woman sitting directly across from her, with a pen and paper out for note taking. Hawkeye looked at the girl and gave a faint smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot you," she pointed out, noticing the teen's pale face. Annora relaxed, slightly.

Hawkeye noticed this, but didn't say anything about it.

"So," she began, making an effort not to scare the teenager any more that she had already. "Would you please tell me your full name?"

"Annora Thomas."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen. I just had my birthday last month."

Hawkeye nodded as she wrote down the information that Annora had given her. So her suspicions were correct; this girl was barely even old enough to take the State Alchemist exam, much less know how much trouble she was in.

"What's your date of birth?"

"November 16th, 1990."

The lieutenant stopped writing and looked up from her paper slowly to stare at the teenager intently. Annora fidgeted in her seat slightly; Hawkeye's gaze was unnerving her a bit. The woman let out a slow breath as she set down her pen.

"Annora, that **can't **be the year that you were born. The year right now is 19**15**."

The teenager went a nasty shade of white at this information as she gripped the wooden armrests of her chair in fright, her chocolate eyes wide.

"No," she whispered, so soft that Hawkeye didn't hear her.

"You're sixteen, correct?" Hawkeye asked as she looked at the shocked teen. Annora nodded silently, her mind elsewhere as she struggled to figure out what was going on. The lieutenant looked thoughtful for a few moments as she did some mental calculations.

"That would mean that you were born in 1899," she muttered more to herself than Annora. The older woman wrote the date down on the paper before she looked over at Annora again.

"So, how long have you been in Central?"

Annora blinked in surprise at the question. "Wait, where? I'm from Flagstaff; I don't even know where Central would be, much less have ever visited it."

Riza Hawkeye stopped writing for the second time. "Flag…staff? And where is that located?"

"Umm… Arizona," the teenager pointed out, only to be rewarded with a blank look from the lieutenant. "You know the **state**, Arizona."

"And where is that?"

"In the United States."

"Which is…?"

"Right below the country Canada and above Mexico, on the continent of North America."

No response.

Annora didn't know whether to scream with frustration, or start to worry. Fortunately, Hawkeye prevented her from panicking by asking another question.

"Do you have any family that you can contact, to tell them where you are?"

The teenager gave a small frown and shook her head slowly.

"No, not really. Both my parents are away on business," she explained softly. "And I can't really get a hold of my brother."

"Why not?"

"Because he's over fighting in Iraq, and he doesn't really have any way of coming to get me if I do contact him."

"So your brother is in the military? How old is he and what is his rank?" Hawkeye asked.

Annora paused for a second and raised her eyebrows in confusion. The lieutenant caught her unasked question and began to explain.

"You see, if your brother's in the military, it'll be fairly simple to contact him."

"Oh…" realization dawned upon the teenager and she relaxed slightly. "His mane's Ethan, he's almost twenty, and the last time I checked… he had the rank of Private."

Hawkeye gave an encouraging smile as she recorded the information that the sixteen-year old had given her.

"Well, I think that's about it," she remarked calmly as she stood up and pushed in her chair. "By the way, could you point out those places that you mentioned earlier on a map? I'm curious to see where they're located; I've never heard of them before."

Annora froze halfway through the process of pushing her own chair in, and then gave a wry grin.

"I have a couple of maps in my history book. When you take me back, I'll show them to you."

Riza nodded as she once again escorted the girl back to her holding cell.

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A triumphant smirk crossed Roy Mustang's face as he applied his signature to the last form on his desk. He was done; now he could leave his office with a free conscience. The black-haired man stretched his arms out behind him and let out a jaw cracking yawn just as Hawkeye came in and threw a folder onto his desk.

"Having fun, sir?" she asked curtly. The twenty-nine-year old almost fell out of his chair in surprise.

"Lieu-Lieutenant!" he gasped out, eyes wide in shock. "What are you doing here?!"

"I'm delivering the record of my interrogation, sir."

"Oh." Mustang all but mentally slapped himself for his stupidity. "So, what did you find out?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Permission granted."

Hawkeye took a deep breath before she launched into her report.

"From what I have gathered, the girl, whose name happens to be Annora, has absolutely no idea as to where she is. She has never even heard of Central before, much less been here. Needless to say, all she wants to do is go home."

"Then why did she attack me?" Mustang prodded. Hawkeye glared at him, her brown eyes blazing from anger.

"She was scared out of her mind, **sir**," the woman stated coldly. "When I asked her, she said that she had never heard of alchemy before today. So, had I been in her place, I would have done the same thing."

The mental image of Hawkeye aiming a gun at him sprang unbidden into Mustang's mind, causing him to flinch while the blood drained from his face. Hawkeye spun around smartly on her heel and stalked out of the office, slamming the door shut behind her. The mighty Flame Alchemist let out a sigh of relief as he sank down into his chair.

"What'd I do?" he muttered as he set about reviewing the file.

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Annora lay on the cot, the sheets over her as she drifted between the realm of sleep and wakefulness. It had been several hours since she had talked with Hawkeye, and Havoc had brought her dinner not long after that, saying that she had to be hungry after all the pacing she had done. The older man was currently asleep in his chair, snoring lightly.

Havoc had been told to stay overnight to watch Annora, meaning that he would get next to no sleep. The Lieutenant jerked awake with a start as he almost fell out of his chair, then groaned and slapped himself to wake up thoroughly.

"I need some coffee," he muttered groggily as he stood up and stretched before walking down the hallway. Unknown to him, a figure watched him intently from the shadows before it slid off in the direction of the holding cells.

A harsh 'clang' shook Annora awake just as she had fallen asleep. The teenager immediately shot up into a sitting position and scanned the dark cell uneasily before she checked her watch. It showed that it was well after midnight.

"Who's there?" she called out as she shifted the sheets off her and slid her feet into her shoes. The hair along the back of her neck stood straight up as a chilling laugh rang out from the wall opposite to her. With a malevolent smirk etched onto his features, Envy stepped out from the shadows into the dim pool of light cast by one of the lamps down the hall. Horror washed over the sixteen-year old as her sleep-laden mind realized what was happening.

Envy was in the same cell as her.

'_Oh shit.'_

"You're going to pay for what you did to me today, brat!" the homunculus growled, pale violet eyes flashing as he strode towards the teenager. Annora stood up and glared at him.

"Well sorry, but I'm a little short on cash right now. Will you take an I.O.U.?"

Envy lunged forward and grabbed the front of her shirt.

"I don't think so," he hissed. Annora paled slightly just an idea came to her.

'_Three Stooges, don't fail me now,'_ she prayed mentally as she reached out and poked Envy in the eyes with her index and middle finger. The homunculus let out an agonized howl as he released her to clutch at his eyes. Annora seized her chance and ran over to the barred wall of her cell.

"ESCAPED PRISONER!" she roared out at the top of her lungs. "ESCAPED PRISONER!! ESCAPED PRISON-"

A strong hand wrapped itself around her throat, immediately cutting her off.

"No one's coming, girl!" Envy spat as he slammed her into the wall above the sink, shattering the mirror with the back of Annora's head. A small whimper of pain escaped her lips as she frantically dug her nails deep into her attacker's wrist in an attempt to get him to release her. The homunculus only smirked in response as the small wounds healed almost instantly.

"You might as well accept it," he gloated. "No one's going to save you."

The sound of pounding feet echoed down the corridor, signaling that Envy's statement was entirely untrue. The homunculus turned around slightly to gage how far away the people running towards the holding cells were, just as a large fragment of mirror in the sink caught Annora's attention. Not wasting a single moment, she reached down, grabbed it, and swiftly thrust it into Envy's forearm. The homunculus let out a howl of pain, accompanied by a series of elaborate curses as he released the teenager.

Annora stumbled forward and fell to her knees with a hand over her throat as she sucked in life-giving oxygen, her entire body shaking as coughs wracked her thin frame. The sound of roughly a dozen pistols being cocked caught her attention, and the sixteen-year old looked up in time to see several military issued gun muzzles all pointed in her direction. With a yelp, Annora curled up in a small ball with her hands over her head just as all of the guns fired in an echoing symphony.

BAM BA-BAM BLAM BAM!

Several of the slugs found their mark, plowing into Envy's flesh. One bullet even buried itself deep within the homunculi's forehead, plowing through flesh and bone to come to rest deep within soft brain tissue. The shape shifter slumped backwards for a moment, then straightened up with a flurry of blue sparks dancing over his skin where gaping wounds had been only moments beforehand, and then transformed into an owl and flew out the tiny barred window leading out into the courtyard.

Half of the military personnel leveled their firearms at the fleeing avian's feathery butt while the rest simply stared at it in shock, only to have Hawkeye signal for them to stop.

"Cease fire, it's gone," she ordered as she holstered her own pistol before looking over at Jean Havoc, who happened to be among the people that had responded to Annora's alarm. "Havoc, the key."

The man handed her the key to the cell door and stepped back respectfully as the First Lieutenant opened the door. Without a moment's hesitation, she strode over to Annora and knelt by the traumatized teenager. Hawkeye gently placed her hand on Annora's back, which caused her to look up at the woman. The lieutenant's eyes narrowed when she caught sight of the rapidly darkening bruises on the girl's throat.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly. Annora nodded silently, then winced and put her hand to the back of her head where it had collided with the mirror. Hawkeye frowned as she gently pulled the teenager's hand away from the back of her head; not surprisingly, it came away bloody. Now, whether the blood was from the cut on her hand left behind by the fragment of mirror that she had used to defend herself, or from a wound on the back of her head, no one could tell.

"We really need to get you patched up," Hawkeye remarked quietly, then turned around and addressed Havoc, who was right behind her, accompanied by Roy Mustang.

"She needs to be taken to the hospital wing, immediately."

Havoc came forward and gently helped Annora to her feet. The teenager gave a wane smile as she indicated that she could walk on her own, only to almost fall flat on her face when she tried to take a step. Fortunately, Havoc caught her before she could hit the floor.

"Woah, looks like that blow to the head affected your balance," he pointed out. Annora made a face and muttered an obscenity under her breath in reference as to what species Envy's parents might have been. Havoc looked over at Hawkeye, who nodded in approval, before he picked up Annora, who let out a yelp of surprise, and headed to the hospital wing.

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"Damn it, Colonel Bastard, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" Edward raged as he kicked open the door to the medical ward. "It's after one o'clock in the fucking morning, and you call us in here?! Don't you know that most people are **sleeping **right now?!"

Annora jumped about a foot in the air in surprise, only to have Hawkeye force her back down onto the cot that she had been sitting on so the woman could finish removing shards of the mirror from her hand.

"Hold still," she reprimand gently as she pulled out yet another fragment of glass from the cut on the teenager's palm using metal tweezers. "I'll be finished soon."

"I hope so," Annora muttered, wincing as the first lieutenant accidentally poked a sore spot before removing the final shard of glass. The teenager was forced to bite her lip as Hawkeye poured antiseptic onto the wound before she started to wrap up the cut with a length of gauze. Once this action was completed, the older woman began to clean out the cut on Annora's cheek that she had received from a piece of flying mirror when the back of her head had been slammed into it.

Colonel Mustang paid no attention to these actions while he looked at the irate teenage alchemist. He merely raised an eyebrow as he leaned up against one of the beds in the room and allowed a small smirk to creep across his face.

"Since when have you ever been normal, Fullmetal?"

Alphonse hastily covered his brother's mouth before a stream of obscenities could emerge.

Annora rolled her eyes in irritation as she shifted the ice pack that she held in her left hand to another spot on the back of her head. Hawkeye had already examined the spot where her head had gone through the mirror, and had told the teenager that there wasn't a cut, but only a large bump. Hence the ice pack. Alphonse caught sight of her movements and turned around to look at her.

"What happened to you?" he asked. The sixteen-year old shrugged and gave a wry grin before she responded.

"I got the back of my head slammed into a mirror. Needless to say it hurts, a **lot**."

"How'd you manage that one?" Ed asked in a slightly sarcastic tone. "Did you trip over your feet or something?"

"The individual called Envy escaped and attacked her," Mustang interjected before Annora could reply with a biting comeback. "Which also happens to be why I called you here, Fullmetal: I'm assigning you to bodyguard duty."

"Who do we have to guard, Colonel?" Al asked politely. A knowing smirk crept across the Flame Alchemist's face as he delivered the final blow.

"You're to watch over this girl until we get this whole mess cleaned up."

"**WHAT?!"** Ed and Annora both shrieked, their eyes widening in disbelief.

"You mean that I'm going to have to watch this psycho?!" Ed yelped in outrage. "No fucking way! You're out of your mind!"

"Who're you calling a psycho, you shrimp?" Annora shot back, glaring at the shorter boy. "You're the one that needs to take a chill pill!"

"What did you just call me?!"

"You heard me, shorty!"

"Who're you calling a runt so tiny that he can ride an ant with room to spare?!"

"I didn't say that, you moron! You did!"

"That's what they all say!"

"Bite me then, if you can reach that high!"

"**WHAT?!"**

Mustang watched the shouting match between the two teenagers in amusement while Alphonse just looked on in confusion.

"Brother…"

The two teenagers just ignored him. The Colonel smirked as he decided to further irritate the boy.

"Hey, Fullmetal. Stop arguing with your girlfriend and get to work on your assignment."

Alphonse had to grab Ed in mid-leap before he could go after Mustang and commit murder. While the possessed suit of armor was struggling to restrain his older brother, a full ice pack suddenly flew out of nowhere and smacked the Flame Alchemist full in the face, leaving a bright red mark behind. All eyes slid over to Annora, who was giving Mustang a look that could kill.

"Asshole," she spat, mahogany eyes narrowed dangerously.

Roy Mustang rubbed at the spot where the ice pack had hit him as he scowled at the sixteen-year old.

"That's the second time that you've assaulted me, girl," he pointed out in a clipped tone. Annora just rolled her eyes in response.

"Yeah, well that's the second time you've acted like a moron."

Ed snickered at this; it looked like the Colonel was going to have to deal with another person that didn't respect him.

Mustang let out an aggravated sigh and massaged the bridge of his nose. "As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted, Fullmetal, you need to take the girl to your lodgings seeing as we obviously can't keep her here and keep her safe."

"Hey, I have a name, Sergeant Dumbass!" Annora gritted out, her eyes blazing. "It's Annora. An. Nor. A. Three syllables, not that hard to remember."

The Flame Alchemist twitched visibly as he fought to retain his calm. "Girl, if you wish to insult me, then at least address me by my **proper** title, which happens to be Colonel."

Annora chose not to dignify that statement with a response. Once Mustang was satisfied that the teenager wasn't going to interrupt him again, he continued.

"Make sure that she isn't seen entering your house."

Edward arched an eyebrow in surprise when he realized what the Colonel was saying. Alphonse also realized what Mustang was hinting at, and began to unbuckle his breastplate.

"So, how're you going to manage that?" Annora asked as she focused her attention on Mustang. The man allowed a knowing smile to creep across his face as Ed answered the girl's question.

"Easy, Al will tale you," the teenage alchemist responded nonchalantly as he jerked a gloved thumb in the direction of his brother. Annora raised her eyebrows skeptically at this.

"Umm, no offense or anything, but I don't think that two people can exactly fit in that thing," she pointed out hesitantly.

"Well… technically, there'll only be one person in here," Alphonse said as he removed his breastplate and pulled aside the chain mail to reveal his empty interior. Annora looked over at him and almost fell off the cot that she was sitting on in shock.

"Ah…ah…" she gasped out as the blood drained from her face. "What… what in the hell…?"

Before anyone could say anything, her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed back on the cot in a dead faint. Ed blinked in surprise at this.

"Well, that's **one** reaction that we've never had before," he muttered as he walked over and picked up Annora's limp form. "Although, I guess there's only so much that you can take in a day."

"That's funny, I would never have pinned her for the fainting type," Mustang muttered quietly. "From this afternoon's little display, I would have to say that she's incredibly strong-willed."

Alphonse shook his metal head as Ed gently placed the girl inside him and buckled up his breastplate.

"That may be, but my body is hardly normal. I don't blame her for reacting in the way that she did," he pointed out softly. Ed looked over at his younger brother with a pained expression in his eyes before he redirected his attention to Mustang.

"Anything else you need us to do, Colonel?" he asked sarcastically. Fortunately, Hawkeye intervened before things could get nasty.

"Havoc will be accompanying you to your lodgings with the girl's personal items; I told him to retrieve Annora's belongings when the Colonel announced his intentions to me before you and your brother arrived."

It was at that point that the sandy-haired man strolled through the door to the infirmary with a lit cigarette stuck in the corner of his mouth, looking decidedly exhausted. "I've got the kid's stuff and I'm ready to go, Hawkeye," he announced. Ed looked over at him and shook his head.

"Nah, the less people that come with us, the better. I'll just carry it myself."

Havoc let out a sigh of relief as the teenage State Alchemist took letterman's jacket and backpack from him; now he could go home and get some **sleep **for a change. Ed glanced over at his brother, who nodded, indicating that he was ready to leave.

"C'mon Al, let's go."

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Annora let out a low groan as she slowly slipped back into consciousness. She was dimly aware of the fact that she was on a couch… was it her couch? Was she home, safe and sound, where al that had happened was just a dream? The sixteen-year old slowly relaxed as she realized that someone was watching her. There was only one person that she knew that could possibly be there watching over her. And for once, she was glad that he was so damn overprotective.

"Ughh… Ethan, I had the worst nightmare," she muttered groggily. "I ended up in one of Katie's weird books, got arrested by these wierdos, and there was this big empty suit of armor…"

"Umm… I don't know who Ethan is, but I'm not him," someone said nervously. Annora's eyes shot open, and the fog clouding her mind cleared instantly as she found herself face to face with Alphonse Elric.

"Yahh!" she yelped as she attempted to scoot backwards away from the possessed suit of armor. Unfortunately, all the frightened teenager managed to do was smack her back painfully against the back of the couch.

"Alright already, stop freaking out. He's not going to hurt you or anything," Ed muttered irritably as he leaned up against the wall opposite from where Annora was currently seated. Annora's eyes narrowed dangerously and a few moments later, the State Alchemist was smacked upside the head by an accurately thrown couch pillow.

"Stop throwing crap at people!" he shouted angrily. "What are you, insane?!"

"No," Annora shot back. "Are you?"

Edward smacked his forehead with his left hand and let out an aggravated groan.

"Oh, I am going to **kill** that bastard Colonel for this."

"Hey, no offense, but I'm not too happy about this either," Annora pointed out. Alphonse just shook his head and let out a world weary sigh.

"It's not just that. It's also the fact that Brother hates Colonel Mustang with a passion," he explained.

"Oh." Annora looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Is that why you called him 'Colonel Bastard' when you came into the room back at the military office?"

"Damn straight."

'_What I can't understand is why am I even here in the first place?'_ the sixteen-year old wondered as she stared down at her hands, which lay folded in her lap. _'It just doesn't make sense.'_

"Hey, you." Ed looked over at Annora, who stared back at him steadily. "Where am I exactly? When the woman questioned me earlier, she asked me how long I had been in Central, so I know that much. But still, I don't really have a solid explanation as to where I am."

The teenage alchemist gave her a strange look as he gave her his reply.

"You're at our apartment in Central, which is not too far from military headquarters. The city of Central is the capital of the country of Amestris. Anyways, enough with the geography lesson. You're going to have to stay here for tonight; Colonel Bastard's orders."

Annora rolled her eyes in response as she covered up her shock at Ed's answer. "Oh joy."

"Excuse me, but I'm not exactly thrilled about this either," Ed muttered rebelliously. "I didn't ask to play babysitter to some girl that has a lousy sense of direction."

"No shit, Sherlock," Annora growled, her chocolate eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Hey, who asked you?!"

"You did, you moron!"

Alphonse watched nervously as Annora and Ed both stood up, walked over to each other and got in the other's face as they continued to argue.

"I'm a moron?! The only person that's a moron is the one that named you! What the hell kind of name is Annora anyway?!"

"You keep your mouth off my mother! And it's an Irish name, dumbass! It stands for 'honor' in Gaelic!"

"I'm not a dumbass, you psycho!"

"Oh wow, you sure could've fooled me! Then what are you, a Hobbit?!"

Ed looked at her and blinked several times in surprise, a look of comic bewilderment on his face.

"What the hell is a Hobbit?" he asked. The only response that he received was Annora laughing hysterically. A vein began to throb on the teenage alchemist's forehead as he glared at the girl.

"What?!" he demanded angrily. "What's so damn funny?!"

Annora looked at him and burst out laughing again, tears streaming from her eyes as she clutched her aching ribs.

"How -gasp- can you **not** know what a -giggle- Hobbit is?"

Ed only scowled in reply.

Al looked rapidly between the two teenagers and decided that it was a good time to put a stop to the argument.

"Umm… Brother, it's late and we all have a busy day ahead of us in the morning. So why don't we all go to bed and get some sleep?" he pointed out.

Ed looked thoughtful for a few moments before he shrugged noncommittally.

"Yeah Al, I guess we should all get some sleep."

"But Brother, where is Annora going to sleep?"

The Fullmetal Alchemist's eyes widened marginally in surprise as he froze in his tracks. He hadn't thought of that.

"Umm…" he began nervously, only to have Al interrupt.

"Brother, she could use my bed for tonight," he offered. Annora waved off the offer.

"No thanks, I'll just use the couch since it's only going to be for tonight. Besides, I'm not going to kick you out of your bed just because your commanding officer pushed me on you."

Ed looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "Sounds good to me. But are you sure though?"

"Yeah, pretty sure."

"Brother, that's not polite!" Al interjected.

"Hey, she just said so herself that it was okay!"

"That still doesn't change the fact that it's rude!"

Annora just rolled her eyes upwards in exasperation. "Look, I just want to go to sleep, not argue about where I'm gonna sleep for a few hours for **one** night!"

Al started to protest, only to have Ed race upstairs.

"I'll get her some blankets!" he called back over his shoulder. Al sweatdropped as he stared at the doorway that his older brother had gone through.

"He's just trying to avoid the topic," he muttered as he went up the stairs after Ed. Annora's eyebrow's shot up into her hairline as she stared at the stairs in disbelief. This was sure turning out to be one weird day. Her mental musings were interrupted by Ed's return with a few blankets and a pillow.

"Here, you can use these for tonight," he said in a neutral tone as he held out the bedding to her.

"Thank you."

Ed made a sarcastic noise in the back of his throat in response. Annora shook her head and sighed.

"Geez, what's your problem?" she muttered. "It's not like I asked for this to happen."

No response.

"Alright then, if you want to be an ass, go ahead."

The teenager looked back at her and scowled. Annora raised an eyebrow in response as she spread one of the blankets out on the couch.

"Look, you're not the one that's stuck in a city that you've never even heard of with people that you don't know. It's not like I even **want **to be here, so could you please stop acting like I killed someone?"

"Then why don't you stop whining?" Ed shot back acidly. "They're **your** problems, so why don't **you** take care of them?"

Annora's eyes widened before she let out a weary sigh.

"Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind," she responded neutrally, throwing the pillow down onto the couch with visible anger. Without waiting for a response, the sixteen-year old sat down, pulled off her shoes, and lay down, pulling the other blanket over her.

The teenager was sound asleep within moments.

With an unreadable expression in his golden eyes, the Fullmetal Alchemist watched Annora for a few moments before he turned around and walked up the stairs to the room that he shared with Al. The second he opened the door, Al's fist crashed down on his head.

"Brother, you're an idiot," he stated simply before he turned around and lay down on his bed with his back to his brother. Ed stared at the suit of armor that housed his brother's soul in shock for several long moments before he sat down on his own bed. Why did he always manage to royally screw things up?

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Okay, so here's the third chapter. I'm sorry that it took a while, but I was really busy. School and everything else just have this habit of piling up on you when you're trying to write. -.-; I try to update once a week at the most, but the funny thing with life is that you never know what's gonna happen, so there might be a slightly sporadic updating schedule.

Anyways, on to better, less depressing news: I now have fourteen reviews! (Does the happy dance) That's the most I've **ever** gotten on a story! Thank you so much for your opinions!

**Reviews**

Liah Cauthin: I'm so sorry that your sister doesn't share your love of that series. I've had a similar experience with that, and I know how vexating it can be. What I do is just try not to talk about it, that way I don't get that much grief from my sibling.

Siacatmesecat: I try not to create any Mary-Sues', they just depress me. Yeah, I know I'm mean to Dante, but I have a problem with someone that steals other people's bodies just because they don't want to die. XP Anyways, there will be a lot more Envy bashing throughout my story, and more trash can puns. Oh, feel free to send me bashing ideas too; I don't think my mind is depraved enough to make the palm tree suffer as much as I want him to. My friend and I came up with the idea for the story together, but I'm the only one that has an account on FanFiction, and I'm the one that writes the story.

richard9311: Glad you like it!

Lightning Dragon Alchemist: Thank you so much! I'm glad that you think so highly of my story!

TwoCrazyGirls: Yeah, I know I'm crazy, but still, it's funny that you're more insane than I am. Thanks for the review!

SamuraiRin63: I'm not small; baka-chan. (Pulls out Colonel Mustang's ignition cloth gloves from jacket pocket and puts them on. Smirks evilly.) You better start running; I'll give you a five second head start, just to be nice.

**Mustang:** Hey, those are mine!

Jay: Wow, I didn't know that someone had actually **had** a conversation similar to that. O.O I just kind of made it up, based on my first reaction when I saw Envy. But thank you, I'm glad that you liked it.

Black Blood Alchemist: I'm glad that you liked my comments about Envy. There's no need to hypnotize me into writing more, I love to write so much that when I'm stressed out, I start writing.

Thank you all so very much! See you next chapter!


	4. Chapter Four: Shattered Reality

**Chapter Four: **

**Shattered Reality**

**Riiing!!**

Annora let out a sleepy groan as her cell phone rang, jolting her out of the warm, dark realm known as sleep. She slowly reached out and picked up her phone from the table next to the sofa and opened it.

"Hello?" she asked groggily. A shrill squeal made her yank the phone away from her ear.

"Annora! You picked up! Are you still mad?"

The teenager blinked stupidly for a few seconds before she realized who was on the other end.

"Katie? Why the hell are you calling me at-" she looked at her wristwatch, "six a.m.?"

"Six a.m.? Annora, it's only been about an hour since I called you last time," Katie said, sounding confused. "And last time, you were **really** mad. So, where are you?"

"…Why?"

"Because I'm standing in front of your house, and I've been ringing the doorbell for the past ten minutes!"

"Oh…" Annora let out a yawn. "Hey Katie, could you do me a favor, please? I'd really appreciate it if you would feed Rembrant for me."

"Rembrant? You want me to feed some dead artist?!" Katie yelped. "What kind of sicko are you?!"

"Katie, Rembrant's my chinchilla."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Annora rolled her eyes in exasperation. "There's a key to my house under the doormat on my back porch, so you can use that to get in."

"But where are you?"

"Well, I **was **sleeping."

"So you're in your room?"

"Uh no. Try again Katie," the teenager responded sarcastically as she sat up and ran a hand through her sleep-mussed hair. "Think more along the lines of out of town."

"You're out of town?"

"Yeah, I'm in some place called Central."

Ed came downstairs just in time to see Annora drop her cell phone because of the high-pitched squeal issuing from it. The teen cocked a golden eyebrow as he stared at her curiously.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"My friend's on the phone, and if she doesn't stop squealing soon, the first thing I'll do the next time I see her is smack her stupid!" Annora growled as she glared at her phone. Ed raised an eyebrow before he reached down and picked up the phone.

"Hey, who is this?" he demanded. A startled gasp came from the other end before yet another squeal came from the speaker.

"Edward Elric!!!" Katie shrieked loudly. Ed immediately let out a yelp of surprise as he promptly dropped the phone. Annora dived from her spot on the couch and caught the falling object in her outstretched palm, where she immediately snapped it shut. The teenager let out a sigh of relief as she stood up.

"Phew, that was close."

"Who the hell was that?" Ed asked, his golden eyes stern. Annora let out an annoyed groan as she rolled her eyes.

"That was my friend Katie," she explained as she massaged the bridge of her nose. "Might I also add that she's insane? Not to mention the fact that she's also the owner of the book that you took from me."

"She knows my name!"

"That does not surprise me," Annora muttered sardonically. Ed whirled around to glare at her.

"How the hell does she know my name?!"

"How does who know your name, Brother?" Al asked as he came down from the room that he and Ed shared.

"Some crazy friend of hers," Ed responded, jerking a thumb over at Annora, who shrugged.

"Search me," she responded. Edward glared at her, a scowl planted on his face.

"You just said that it doesn't surprise you that she knows my name, and then you go and say that you don't know how she knows all this! What the hell is up with that?!" he raged, a stress mark appearing on his forehead. Annora and Alphonse both sweatdropped in unison as they stared at the irritated alchemist.

"Umm… probably 'cause Katie knows a **lot** of weird random crap that I never pay any attention to," Annora offered hesitantly. Ed just made a disbelieving sound in the back of his throat. Annora glared at him in response.

"You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?" she growled. Ed just rolled his eyes, serving to only further irritate the sixteen-year old.

"Now, now you two, just calm down," Alphonse said nervously. We need to report to Colonel Mustang at seven o'clock."

Annora looked down at her wristwatch and swore. "Ack! It's already six thirty!"

She ran back over to the couch and hurriedly yanked on her sweater and sneakers, before she pulled on her jacket and wrapped her scarf securely around her neck. Ed raised an eyebrow at the girl's actions before turned around and headed out the door, pulling on his own red trench coat as he did so.

"C'mon, let's get going you slowpoke!" he called out behind him, only to have Annora shoot past him, followed at a much slower pace by Al. An irritated scowl crossed the alchemist's face as he closed and locked the door behind him.

'_That damn Colonel owes me **big**!'_

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Alphonse watched Annora as she fidgeted nervously in her seat, her eyes occasionally darting over to Colonel Mustang's office door where he, Ed, and Hawkeye had entered almost an hour ago.

"Arghh! When are they going to finish up?" Annora groaned as she drummed her fingers restlessly along her thigh. "I wanna go home!"

"You need to calm down, Annora," Al pointed out kindly. "Getting impatient won't make the meeting go any faster."

"I know, but still… I can't just sit here. It's not so much the topic of the meeting that's unnerving me as it is the time spent waiting!"

At that point, the door opened and Riza Hawkeye walked out.

"Annora, would you please come in here?"

"Sure," the teenager responded as she stood up. Hawkeye looked over at Alphonse and gave him a polite nod before she closed the door.

"Umm… so what did you need me for?" Annora asked as she stood in front Mustang's desk with her hand clasped behind her back. The Flame Alchemist looked at her steadily, his dark eyes revealing no emotion.

"I understand that your older brother is in the military," he stated in a very matter-of-fact tone. Annora nodded slowly, somewhat unsure as to where the Colonel was going with this topic.

"Yes sir."

"A Private Ethan Thomas, am I right?"

"Yes sir."

"Hmm, interesting," Mustang muttered as he peered at the paperwork that he was holding closely. "Miss Thomas, we have been unable, even through extensive searching, to locate a **single** military file on your 'brother', much less find any evidence to show that he exists."

"What?!" Annora yelped. "That's not true! He enlisted over a year ago! I remember that because he and my dad had a huge fight over it the night before he went to training!"

"Then perhaps your memory is skewed," Mustang countered. "There is no Private Ethan Thomas in the Amestris military."

Edward watched in silence as stunned horror flitted across Annora's features before her reaction changed. The sixteen-year old's brown eyes hardened and her jaw clenched tightly as tears sprung from the corners of her eyes.

"You're lying," she ground out in a strangled voice. "You're all lying!"

Annora spun around and ran out the door, fighting back tears of fear and anguish. Al stood up when the teenager threw open the office door, only to have Annora run past him, ignoring him completely.

"Annora, what happened?" he called out, only to receive no answer.

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Tears stung Annora's eyes as she raced through the corridors of Central's military office, not paying any attention as to where she was going, except that she wanted to get as far away as possible from the place. Mustang telling her that they had absolutely no records on Ethan at all had shattered her only hope that she would be able to get home, that she wasn't in some other world that existed only in Katie's comic books and TV shows. A choked sob emerged from her throat as she bust out the front door, almost knocking over Lieutenant Havoc in the process. The man stumbled back a few paces in surprise as he regained his balance, watching Annora flee into the snowy morning.

'_No, this isn't real! It **can't** be real!' _Annora mentally screamed as she continued to run, her heart throbbing painfully. _'This is just a nightmare, a really bad one!'_

The sixteen-year old didn't stop running until she reached an elegant fountain in the middle of a large square, which was located several blocks away from the military headquarters. It was there that her legs gave out, causing her to collapse in front of the stone structure with tears streaming down her face.

'_Ethan, Mom, Dad… where are you? I want to go home! I **want** to wake up from this hellish dream!'_

All of the noise around her was muted by the heavily falling snow as it piled up on the ground and buildings, covering up the previous layer with a thick coat of fresh, white powder. The teenager shivered slightly as the cold snow stung the palms of her bare hands, numbing the exposed flesh of her fingers.

"I just want to go home, is that so hard?" she asked quietly to no one in particular. The sound of trickling water in the fountain was the only answer that she received.

Annora watched numbly as hot tears fell from her eyes, melting little holes in the snow before freezing. It was then that she realized how pathetic she must look to the people passing by her: a teenage girl sitting out in the snow by a fountain, bawling her eyes out. The sixteen-year old stood up and rubbed the cuff of her jacket sleeve across her eyes, scrubbing away the hot tears that still clung to her cheeks. It was about that point in time when she noticed the muffled sounds of pounding feet and people shouting. Annora looked back in the direction that she had come from and noticed several dark blurred shapes of people running around. They were obviously looking for something. Or someone.

A slight feeling of unease came over Annora as she watched the approaching people intently. She had the choice of either running away and face the possibility of getting in trouble with the police or military, again, or staying put and finding out what was going on. She decided to choose the latter of the two.

The bandage that had covered the deep cut on her left cheek came loose, detaching itself from her cheek and fluttering down to land on the snow; a patch of dirty cream and dull maroon against the otherwise pristine landscape. Annora directed her gaze upward towards the cloudy morning sky, watching snowflakes spiral down and land on her face, melting back into miniscule droplets of water almost instantly upon contact. After a few moments of staring up at the sky, the sixteen-year old became aware of someone approaching her from behind.

"Annora?"

Edward watched in interest as Alphonse walked up to Annora, ready to interfere if the girl should try to hurt his brother. He silently cursed the deep feeling of guilt that he had felt when he had seen the expression on Annora's face when Mustang had very bluntly told her that her brother did not exist; it was the same feeling of guilt that was the reason behind his coming with Al to find her.

The girl turned around to face them, a sort of dull hopelessness evident within the depths of her mahogany orbs. Alphonse was visibly startled by this sight.

"Annora, are you alright?!"

"What makes you think that I'm alright?" she asked softly as she looked down and slightly to the side. "I've just been told that my older brother, who I trust more than anyone in the world, doesn't exist. It's like saying that he's dead and he's never going to come home."

Ed shifted uneasily from foot to foot as he watched Annora, who heaved a huge sigh and shook her head before she looked him dead in the eye.

"So why are you here? I thought you didn't really care about my problems."

"Uh, I didn't exactly say **that**…" Ed muttered, a little shamefaced as Al glared at him. "It's just that, well… I was just really upset that the Colonel forced you to stay with us, and I kind of took it out on you."

"Why Fullmetal, I don't think that I've ever seen you act this mature before," Mustang remarked snidely as he and Hawkeye came up behind the three teens. "This must be some kind of record."

Al actually had to grab a hold of Ed's hood to prevent him from lunging at the Flame Alchemist while the irate teenager spat out curses that would have burned the ears of hardened soldiers. As it was, Annora, who was no lightweight herself in that department, was forced to cover her ears before she was scarred for life. Once Ed had calmed down slightly, Annora uncovered her ears, looked up at Colonel Mustang, and scowled.

"You do realize that you're an arrogant, pompous ass, right?" she asked in a scathing tone as she locked her eyes onto his own dark ones. Lieutenant Hawkeye's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the teenager's comment. What shocked her even more however, was Mustang's response.

"Perhaps. Although a foul-mouthed girl like you is hardly one to talk."

Annora chose to respond to his biting remark with the universal gesture of uttermost contempt. The Colonel opened his mouth to fire back some smart-ass comment, only to be stopped by the unmistakable sound of Hawkeye cocking her pistol. Mustang's eyes widened marginally in fear as he realized that he was dangerously close to being shot.

"Sir, we've found her, so why don't we just go back to your office to talk instead of sanding around out here getting wet," Hawkeye suggested in a warning tone. Annora's eyes darted from Hawkeye's face to the muzzle of her gun before she scooted over behind Alphonse, which was where Ed was already hiding. The alchemist glanced over at her before he directed his attention back over to the face off taking place in front of them.

"Is she always this scary?" Annora asked Ed softly. The teenager looked over at her and nodded empathetically in agreement.

"Yeah, she is."

Mustang, on the other hand, was in a fairly uncomfortable position, seeing as if he moved, he'd be shot, and if he gave Hawkeye the wrong answer, he'd be shot. So either way, he was screwed.

The Colonel swallowed nervously, a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his face as he eyeballed the barrel of Hawkeye's pistol uneasily before he addressed his co-worker.

"Umm… perhaps that would be best," he admitted. Hawkeye immediately replaced the safety and smiled thinly at her superior.

"You can come out now," she remarked offhandedly as she turned around and headed for Central Headquarters. Both Edward and Annora almost fell over from shock before they and Alphonse hurried after the woman.

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"So, where are you from again?" Ed asked curiously as he, Alphonse, and Annora walked slowly down the main hallway in Central H.Q. They had just finished an hour long conversation with Mustang and Hawkeye, which had ended with the First Lieutenant telling them that it would be better for Annora to stay with Ed and Al for the time being until they could get her home while aiming her pistol at Mustang to prevent any objections. Needless to say, Mustang had agreed wholeheartedly with the woman.

"Flagstaff. It's not a very big town, but it's not small either."

Ed laughed a bit at this. "Heh, sound's like where we're from. Al and I were born in a small town out East called Resembool. Everybody pretty much knows everybody."

Annora looked over at him and gave a small grin. "I know how that works. When my brother enlisted in the Army to go over to Iraq, pretty much the whole town knew. Annora looked pensive for a few moments before she added. "I hope he's okay."

Ed and Al exchanged looks at her comment before Alphonse asked hesitantly.

"Umm… where's Iraq?"

Annora looked over at the possessed suit of armor in mild surprise. "I have a map in my history textbook in my backpack. When we get back to your house, I'll show it to you."

Ed suddenly froze and uttered a curse under his breath before he looked over at Annora.

"Hughes has spotted you," he muttered ominously. "He is armed with photos of his family. Obvious exits: None."

Annora had just enough time to give a confused 'huh?' before the human slideshow that is Maes Hughes descended upon the three teens.

"Hey there, Edward!" the man greeted cheerily as he came up to them. "How're you doing?"

"We're fine, Lieutenant Colonel," Alphonse replied politely. Hughes grinned at them before he looked at Annora.

"So, this is the girl that caused all that fuss yesterday?"

Annora nodded slowly, a slight hint of an embarrassed blush staining her cheeks. Hughes looked down at her, his expression suddenly serious.

"Is that so? Well, then I have a question for you."

Annora's eyes widened slightly as she looked up at the man nervously. Needless to say, she was extremely surprised when Hughes suddenly smiled at her.

"Wanna see some pictures of my daughter, Elysia?"

Ed and Al both fell over.

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**2 hours and 1,000 pictures later**

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Annora's eye had developed a semi-permanent twitch during the time that she had been forced to view God knows how many pictures of the four-year old daughter of Lt. Colonel Hughes.

"He's like… a living Kodak commercial," she muttered as she, Ed, and Al walked down the street towards the townhouse that the two brothers shared. Ed cast her a curious glance at her comment.

"What's a Kodak commercial?"

Annora's eyes widened a little bit before she looked over at the teenage alchemist in surprise.

"How can you not know what a Kodak commercial is?"

"Uhh… maybe because I've never heard of it?" Ed offered in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Oh. That would explain some things."

"Like…?"

"The fact that you're shorter than me."

"Who are you calling a tiny bug that escapes the wrath of a shoe because he's so small that he fits in the grooves and can't get squashed?!" Ed raged, fury shining in his golden eyes. "Besides, that has nothing to do with the conversation!!"

Annora sweatdropped as she looked at the boy. "Okay… anyways, Kodak is a major brand of camera film. Somehow I think that your friend Hughes single-handedly manages to keep it in business with all the pictures he takes. Does he even have a job?"

"Yes, he works in the Investigations department at Central. He also likes to annoy Mustang by calling him repeatedly throughout the day."

Annora looked over in surprise at the boy, who grinned at her.

"So I'm not the first person to be traumatized by an almost endless array of pictures?" she asked. Ed shook his head and smiled.

"Nope. He does that a lot," he admitted. "It's actually pretty funny when he starts to harass the Colonel. One time, I saw him try to light Hughes on fire over the telephone."

Annora thought for a few moments before she began to laugh at the picture that came to mind at the thought of this. Ed gave her a look of faint interest as he gave a small grin in response.

"You're easily amused, aren't you?"

Annora looked over at him, surprise flickering across her face before she gave a faint smile.

"Maybe," she replied in a slightly teasing tone. The Fullmetal Alchemist raised an eyebrow in interest as he stared at Annora. He had never met anyone that had acted like her before. Her moods changed rapidly, depending on what was going on at the time. She had faced and taken down a Homunculus unarmed while using only a very basic style of self-defense, one that looked like it was more suited for brawling than actual fighting, but she couldn't handle someone telling her that her that her older brother didn't exist. Just last night, she had been throwing crap at him and calling him names, and now she was walking besides him and Al, acting almost as though yesterday had never even happened.

Ed looked over at the girl walking slightly behind him with an unreadable expression on her face. As the late morning winter sunlight fell on her face, an expression of anxiety, hope, amusement, and sadness was made evident in her deep chocolate eyes, which looked up at the sky in an almost innocent sort of awe. The teenage alchemist recognized that look; it was the look of one that couldn't believe that they had come so far and only now realized where they were. It was the same expression that he had probably worn when he had passed his State Alchemy exam.

'_Where is this girl from?'_ Ed wondered as he looked at the other sixteen-year old intently. _'And why does she not know what's going on? It's almost as though she's not from this world entirely…'_

Ed immediately shoved this thought out of his mind; it wasn't even remotely possible. Not even alchemy could do something like that. With that thought, he increased the size of his steps so that Al wouldn't leave him behind.

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Alphonse stared at the map that Annora had in her history textbook in shock. As promised, she had pointed out where she lived and the surrounding area on a map of the United States. She had also turned the page to show the brothers a map of the world, at least according to where she was from.

"This is… odd. We've never even heard of all these places, much less seen them, and we've traveled around a **lot**," Ed muttered as he tapped a finger thoughtfully on the continent of North America. Al was still rendered speechless at this point.

"Well, I've never heard of Amesteris before, so I think we're even on that," Annora pointed out. It was then that Annora's cell phone rang, causing all three teenagers to jump about a foot in the air in surprise.

"Doesn't that stupid thing ever stop?" Ed growled as he glared at the small phone that Annora had just pulled out of her pocket. The teenager looked at the screen and sighed as she flipped it open to answer it.

"When it's Katie calling, no."

Nobody, except Al, was surprised when Katie started off the conversation by saying Annora's name several times loudly in rapid succession.

"Annora, Annora, Annora! Are you really there?!"

Annora, who had wisely held her phone away from her ear to prevent going deaf, put the phone up to her ear while her eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

"Uh, Katie, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Are you really in Central?!"

Annora sweatdropped and little oni-bi's appeared around her head as she fought off the urge to smack the palm of her hand against her forehead. How on earth was she going to explain this to her anime-obsessed friend?

"Umm… Katie, I'm not in Central. I read a road sign wrong by accident when I was talking to you last time. Sorry about that."

There was dead silence on the other end. Annora pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it uneasily. Somehow, she had a **bad** feeling about this.

"Where are you?"

"Huh?"

"Where are you?"

"Umm…" Annora began nervously, sweat dripping down her face. "I'm in… Denver! Yeah! I'm in Denver right now with some… friends."

"Denver," Katie said flatly in a tone that indicated that she didn't believe a word that Annora was saying.

"Uh huh."

"As in Denver, Colorado?"

"Yep, you got it!"

"Why?"

"Umm… I was going to tell you, but I for got! I was supposed to come here to visit some friends for this… week."

Edward snickered a bit at Annora's obvious unease, only to have her turn around and glare at him while making a slicing motion across her throat with her free hand. The teenage alchemist wisely stifled his mirth, deciding that he didn't want to have Annora try to kill him.

"And I didn't know about this earlier, why?" Katie prodded. "And who was it that answered your phone earlier?"

The sixteen-year old froze, feeling as though someone had dumped ice water into her veins.

'_Oh shit.'_

Annora's hand was actually shaking by this point, she was so nervous.

"Uh… that was my friend… Alex! He likes to play pranks a lot, and that was one of them!"

"Oh."

Al smacked the back of Ed's head as the teenager once again began to snicker.

"Hey, Al, what was that for?!"

"Because you're being rude, Brother! It's not nice to laugh at people when they're talking to someone!"

Annora turned around to glare at Ed, her chocolate eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Both of you, knock it off!" she hissed. The two brothers immediately stopped bickering just in time to hear Katie's next question.

"Annora, who are you talking to?"

"Umm… Alex and his friend; they're horsing around and stuff."

"Uh-huh."

"Seriously!"

"Uh-huh."

Annora, at this point, was becoming extremely nervous. Not only was she being grilled by Katie, but she was also receiving odd stares from Edward and Alphonse on top of that. It was definitely time to hang up.

"Annora, are you listening to me?" Katie demanded. Annora made a face as she summoned up every ounce of her courage. Once this was all over, Katie was definitely going to give her hell for doing what she was about to do.

"Ohwowlookatthetimegottagobye!" CLICK

(Translation: Oh wow, look at the time, gotta go, bye!)

Annora heaved a huge sigh of relief before she flipped open her phone and pressed a series of buttons before closing it once again.

"Heh, now she can't bug me anymore!" she muttered triumphantly.

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**In Flagstaff**

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Katie scowled as she glared at her phone, which was currently emitting a dial tone, as though it would cause the object to magically re-connect to her friend's own cell phone.

"She hung up on me!" she exclaimed in disbelief. The girl let out an aggravated sigh as she pressed the redial button forcefully.

"Hang up on me, will you?" she muttered darkly, her expression one that would have sent Dante and the Homunculus running as fast as they could in the opposite direction. "Oh, I'll teach you to hang up on me!"

The phone rang twice before someone picked up. Just as Katie filled her lungs to burst into a furious tirade, a mechanical voice piped up.

"Your call has been blocked. Please try again. Have a nice day."

Katie stared at her phone incredulously before it dawned upon her what had just happened.

Her immediate response?

"Fuck!"

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Hi there everyone! I'm sorry that everything took so long, but I had a lot to do. First order of business, my updating schedule is going to be really messed up for the next eight weeks, namely until the end of the school year. So, that's going to slow down my writing a lot. The next thing is the fact that I have been grounded until I bring my grades up in my science class, so I'm not allowed on the computer until those are taken care of. The last thing is that I was sick as a dog the last time I updated, and wrote, so that might explain some of the 'f' bombs. I'm sorry about that and if I offended anyone. I try not to use those as much, and the last chapter had about four of them in there. -.-;

Oh, and the one in the conversation in the last part of the chapter, that was part of a prank I played on a friend, and that was word-for-word her actual response. She was **really** mad when I started laughing my butt off and realized that it was a joke. Needless to say, I had to run really fast at school the next day to avoid having my butt kicked into another time zone. She said that she was going to boot be all the way to Tokyo, but she didn't seem to appreciate me saying that I wouldn't mind because I'd get to meet Arakawa-sensei, Takahashi-sensei, and Watsuki-sensei. (The last two are the authors of InuYasha and Rurouni Kenshin).

Anyways I hope you all aren't going to try to kill me for leaving off there.

Ed: Then why do I see about three people firing up a cauldron full of tar? Not to mention why are they holding a big bag full of feathers?

Wandering Hitokiri: (Starts to sweat nervously) Aww crap. (Looks behind her and sees an angry palm tree)

Envy: Why do you keep putting me in a damn trash can?!

Wandering Hitokiri: Because it's fun. Now shut up and leave me alone. (Snaps her fingers and Envy blows up. Grins evilly) Ahh, I love this job!

Ed: Aren't you using him in later chapters?

Wandering Hitokiri: (Stares at Ed) Thanks for reminding me, now you've ruined my fun. (Starts muttering under breath) Stupid runt.

Ed: (Goes ballistic) Who're you calling a runt?!

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**Reviews**

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Eight new reviews! I'm so happy!

The Maine Coon Cat: I'm on your list of favorites?! Wow! That's awesome!

Liah Cauthon: Sorry about that. I was really sick and had to stay home when I typed up about half of the story and the reviews, so sorry about the misspelling. Fevers of 102 degrees are not fun. I'm pretty short too. I'm only about 5'4, and I have a friend that calls me 'chibi-chan' all the time, which ends with me chasing after her with my backpack, or any other hard object that comes to hand.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: Thanks. Its reviews like yours that inspire me to write.

richard9311: Why thank you.

animeroxmyworld: Yes I did. Your enthusiasm is catching.

Siacatmesecat: Sorry about that one, I didn't realize how many times the f-bomb was in the last chapter until I went over it again. (Turns red) I like your use of 'this one'. Do you read 'Rurouni Kenshin'? I'm sorry to disappoint you, but very little can change my opinion of Dante. Her personality reminds me all too much of a character that I created in my first fan fic, and I hate her as well, even though I created her. The character's name is Ms. Gardens, and she's an evil hag. Every time I write about her, I feel the intense desire to go take a shower because her mind is so warped and evil. I would like to read your story though.

Timcampy-chan: Winry is going to make an appearance in a few of the later chapters, but it's not going to be Annora's graphing calculator that she tries to take apart. Poor Annora, she's going to have to fight off a crazed machine junkie to keep her laptop from being disassembled! I've had my graphing calculator for a few years, but it was still expensive when I bought it. XP

Lightning Dragon Alchemist: You're not the only one. I feel jealous of your ability as well, so I think we're even. Oh, I'm curious as to where you live. If you want to, you can send me a private e-mail. If we live in the same state, let's try to meet! I have two friends that write fan fictions on here, but it's always nice to meet new ones!

I do own Annora, her brother Ethan, and Katie. Anyone else belongs to Himoru Arakawa. Except Michael the perv from the first chapter. He's just some random fathead that I created but don't want to own.


	5. Lessons and Practical Application

**Chapter Five: **

**Lessons and Practical Application **

"The basics of alchemy is 'Equivalent Exchange'. That means to obtain something, something of equal value must be lost."

Annora looked up from the book on alchemy that she had been reading and blinked.

"You're kidding," she asked incredulously. "That's it?"

Ed smirked as he flopped down on the couch opposite to where she was sitting and put his feet up on the coffee table next to where Annora's history book and partially completed vocab assignment lay.

"Pretty much, but that's just the very basics. There's a **lot** more to alchemy than just 'Equivalent Exchange'."

Annora frowned thoughtfully as she closed the book that Alphonse had given her, carefully setting it down on the coffee table before she picked up her history book and assignment once again.

"Sounds kind of like my chemistry class back home," she muttered as she began to search through the back of the book for definitions. "Just when you think you've got the basic concepts down, you find out that there's a lot more to it than what you originally thought."

Ed made a face at this. "Chemistry? Why would you bother with that?"

"Because it's a required class," Annora pointed out, not looking up from her book. "I can't graduate from high school if I don't take it."

A thoughtful look entered the teenage alchemist's eyes as he glanced over at Annora.

"You know, I've been wondering about that," he muttered. "Al told me that you asked him about alchemy, and apparently you don't know a thing about it. How do you do that?! **Everyone** knows about alchemy!"

"Not where I'm from. The last time I heard about alchemy, it was in my European History class, and my teacher said that it had died out in the 16th century."

"**WHAT?!** What the hell was your teacher smoking?!"

"As far as I know, nothing."

Ed just stared at her in response, his golden eyes wide, before he let out an aggravated sigh. Annora looked up from her homework and decided to change the topic before Ed got upset at her lack of alchemic knowledge again.

"So, did you hear anything new from Colonel Mustang?"

"On what?"

"Ohhh, I don't know, maybe on whether or not the bastard's going to let me go home anytime soon," Annora remarked acidly before she realized what she had just said. "Crap, did I just say that out loud?"

The teenage alchemist smirked knowingly at her, mischief dancing in his odd colored eyes.

"So I take it that you don't like our mutual friend the Colonel either," he said. He received his answer in the form of the skeptical look that Annora sent his way.

"No, you think?" she asked sarcastically. "I'm sorry, but something about some pompous jerk telling me that my older brother is just a figment of my imagination just pisses me off. Not to mention the fact that I've been gone for almost three days already, and my friends are probably getting really worried about me by now."

At this point, Alphonse came downstairs just in time to hear Edward ask. "Why would only your friends be worried? What about your family?"

"Both of my parents are away on business trips and won't be back in the states for the next month," Annora explained. "They try to make sure that they're home on the important dates, like birthdays and stuff, but still… it gets a little lonely at times without them."

Ed looked at the girl with an unreadable expression in his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by Al.

"Brother, you're back! What did the Colonel say?!" he asked eagerly as he came into the room. The Fullmetal Alchemist looked up at his younger brother and scowled darkly at the reminder of what he had been told.

"According to the Colonel Bastard," he began acidly, his golden eyes flashing with annoyance, "we have to keep Annora here with at least one of us at all times. So that pretty much means that she's staying with us until further notice."

"Wait a sec, so that means that he basically assigned you guys to **baby-sit** me until he tells you not to?" Annora asked incredulously. "That's messed up!"

Ed frowned and rolled his eyes as he made an irritated noise in the back of his throat.

"He didn't use the term 'babysitter', but he did say that I have to make sure that none of the homunculi attack and try to eliminate you," he muttered. "He also made some snide comments about how you were able to defend yourself against Envy the other day was some kind of fluke."

"What?!" Annora yelped in outrage as she stood up, her homework falling off her lap as her hands automatically clenched into fists. "I'm sorry, but the only lessons in self-defense that I have ever had were given to me by my brother, and they're more for brawling and schoolyard fights. Besides, the only experience I actually have is from dealing with the morons at my school that like to start crap. I've never had to deal with shape-shifting lunatics before!"

Both brothers looked at Annora in amazement as she tried to reign in her rapidly rising temper before she hurt someone, namely a certain Flame Alchemist that happened to be the source of her ire. The teenager failed, and before she could do something stupid, namely punching a wall in frustration and breaking her hand, she decided to verbally express her displeasure instead.

"That slimy, arrogant son of a bitch! When I get my hands on that prick, I swear that I will shove my foot so far up his ass that it'll connect with that tiny little thing that he mistakenly calls his brain!!"

Ed and Al both looked at her with identical expressions of surprise as the teenager continued to curse Colonel Mustang, using words that neither of them, even Ed, had ever heard before. Once he had recovered from the shock of hearing a girl swear like a sailor, Ed began to roar with laughter. Annora stopped her tirade in mid-rant and blinked in surprise.

"What?"

Ed just continued to laugh while the bewildered teenager stared at him in shock. Finally, Annora's curiosity got the better of her.

"What's so funny?" she asked. Ed looked up at her just as he was on the verge of calming down, only to burst out laughing once again. A vein began to throb on Annora's forehead as an irritated scowl formed on her mouth. The sixteen-year old's eyes narrowed dangerously as she crossed her arms over her chest and began to tap her foot against the floor.

"Alright, now I'm getting annoyed," she remarked quietly with a hint of steel in her voice. Ed finally managed to calm down and wiped away a few tears that had sprung up in the corners of his eyes.

"Do all girls talk like you do where you come from?" he asked. Annora looked at him in surprise before she gave a disbelieving snort and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, no. The only reason that I talk the way I do is because when I was growing up, the only kids my age on the street that I lived on were four boys, so I learned pretty quickly not to hold back in taking a stand for myself and fighting."

"So you're a tomboy," Ed pointed out bluntly. To his and Al's surprise, Annora merely smiled at them.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "I didn't really have any friends that were girls until I got to 7th grade, when I met Katie."

"Katie…" Ed began slowly before realization dawned upon him. "Isn't that the person that you were talking to the other day, the insane one?"

Annora nodded as she sat down and once again picked up her history homework.

"Yeah. She can be a little nuts at times, not to mention annoying, but she's still a good friend," she admitted. Ed made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded skeptical. Annora pretended not to notice this as she started work on her homework. All of a sudden, Alphonse piped up.

"Brother, why don't we teach Annora alchemy?"

Ed immediately sat up straight and stared at Al while Annora looked up from her homework curiously.

"What?" the teenage alchemist asked slowly. Al looked at him nervously before he explained.

"Well… if Annora doesn't know alchemy, we could teach it to her. We don't know how long she's going to be here, so it might be a good idea. Besides, it might be fun!"

Annora looked thoughtful for a few moments before she shrugged.

"Sure, why not? It doesn't look like I'm going to be leaving anytime soon."

"But-" Ed began, only to have Al cut him off.

"C'mon Brother. Please?"

Ed pulled a face before he made a noise loosely resembling a 'yes'.

"Fine. But it's not going to be easy. You're going to have to do a lot of studying to actually learn anything," he pointed out. "Alchemy is very difficult to learn, and even harder to master."

Annora grinned confidently at him, her chocolate eyes sparking with a hint of mischievousness.

"I can do that, so stop trying to psych me out before I even give it a try."

Ed just rolled his eyes in response. Al cheered softly as he stood up, his red eyes shining with slightly hidden joy. Ed cast a questioning glance over in his younger brother's direction as he leaned back against the couch.

"What are you so happy about, Al?"

If it was at all possible for a suit of armor to grin, Alphonse would have.

"You're finally learning to not act so anti-social, Brother."

"What?!"

Annora began to laugh as Ed shot up out of his seat and began to chase Al around the room, hollering angrily all the while about what he was going to do to his brother once he caught him. The sixteen-year old just shook her head and chuckled at the sight. Even though she still wasn't entirely sure that this wasn't some strange dream, she was actually having fun. It looked like this was going to be an interesting experience.

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**Two weeks later **

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Annora frowned in concentration as she meticulously drew a transmutation circle in chalk on s square of concrete. Al watched her closely as she placed her hands firmly on the outer edge of the circle, resulting in a flurry of electric blue sparks. Awe dawned upon the girl's face as her efforts began to take shape. Once the energy had died down, a small stone ball stood in the center of the transmutation circle. Annora's expression drooped, and she stared at the ball morbidly as a massive sweatdrop ran down the back of her head.

"I still keep getting it wrong," she muttered. Al peered over her shoulder to look closely at the transmutation circle that the girl had drawn, and immediately spotted the problem.

"I think I see why you're having trouble. You wrote down a symbol wrong over here," he said, pointing at the afore mentioned object. "That might be why your transmutation isn't taking the proper shape."

"Okay, I see what you're talking about now."

Annora reached out and corrected her mistake, making sure that she thoroughly erased the original marking before replacing it with the correct one. She then placed her hands on the transmutation circle once again. It was at that point that Ed came around the corner into the yard just in time to see Annora successfully complete the transmutation. The teenager didn't notice Ed standing behind her as she looked at the small stone horse she had transmuted and gave an enthusiastic cheer.

"Yes! I did it!"

Ed raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned up against the gate.

"So, when did you finally stop transmuting balls?" he asked in a semi-joking tone. Annora looked over her shoulder from the spot where she was kneeling and made a face.

(AN: By this point, Annora and Ed have come to a sort of truce by now, so they sort of consider each other friends, but they still get on each other's nerves.)

"Ha ha, very funny," she muttered. "Although that is now no longer true. I can do **horses** now, so be afraid."

Ed just rolled his eyes in response.

"Tch, yeah right. So what you're really saying is that you've gone past your original level of incompetence and have finally managed to master the basics?"

Annora raised an eyebrow skeptically as she looked at the boy.

"This is coming from the same guy that sets off the smoke alarm every time he tries to cook?" she asked.

"Hey! I do not!" Ed protested angrily. Annora just rolled her eyes upwards.

"Sure you don't. And all that smoke that filled up the kitchen the other day just magically appeared while you were trying to make dinner," she pointed out sarcastically. "Here's a hint Ed; when the smoke alarm goes off while you're cooking, that's **not** the done timer."

Ed scowled at her, his face turning red from a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"Are you saying that I can't cook?"

"No, what I'm saying is that I'm surprised that you haven't poisoned yourself yet."

Al was forced to grab his older brother as he lunged at Annora, who wisely stood up and backed away, keeping a wary eye on the irate State Alchemist.

Finally, once Ed had calmed down enough so that Al could safely release him, he fixed Annora with an irritated glare.

"I'd like to see you do better," he growled. The girl looked at him for a few moments before she allowed a slow grin to cross her face.

"Deal," she announced. Ed and Al both stared at her in shock, the former with his jaw hanging open.

"What?" he began, confusion evident in his golden eyes. Annora looked over at him and shrugged nonchalantly.

"You said that you'd like to see me do better, and I said yes," she pointed out with a knowing grin. "Believe it or not, I actually **do** know how to cook."

Ed stood rooted to the ground in shock as the girl turned around and went into the house, headed directly for the kitchen. He looked over at Al and pointed wordlessly in the direction that Annora had gone in.

"… what the hell just happened?"

The suit of armor shrugged as he looked at his older sibling.

"I'm not sure, Brother. But I do know that Annora's going to be coming back out here soon."

"And why is that?"

"Because there's nothing to eat in the kitchen."

Al's words soon proved to be true, because a few seconds later, Annora came out with a slightly exasperated look on her face.

"Okay, it's blatantly obvious that a teenage boy has been living here," she muttered. Ed raised an eyebrow in question and grinned at her.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because the only things that could even remotely be considered food in there is a stale loaf of bread and a wrinkled old apple," she pointed out. "Not to mention that you had some dried out, unidentifiable **thing** sitting in the back corner of one of your cupboards. It looked like a fruit cake, but I didn't want to risk finding out if it was or not. Sadly, it has now been thrown away, so if it was one of your experiments or something, I'm sorry."

Ed made a face at this comment. "No, it wasn't. That stupid thing has been in there for two or three years." He paused to look at the aghast expression on Annora's face in satisfaction before he continued.

"So, why are you out here?"

Annora suddenly became nervous and a little embarrassed.

"Umm… I was wondering if I could borrow some money to get some stuff to make dinner with," she explained.

Golden eyebrows arched upwards in mock surprise as the boy smirked at her faintly.

"How about this; I'll lend you money if you promise not to come back with something that's already been cooked," Ed remarked. "I want to see you do this myself."

Annora looked over at the teenage alchemist and raised an eyebrow.

"You're acting almost as though this was a bet," she pointed out suspiciously. Ed looked thoughtful for a few moments before an evil smirk slowly made its way across his face. A chill ran down Annora's spine at the sight as she looked at Ed uneasily.

_'Why do I have a **really** bad feeling about this?'_ she wondered. Within moments, her question was answered.

"Why don't we make it into one?" Ed suggested. "The looser has to do the laundry and dishes for a **month**."

Annora made a face before she agreed. "Fine, but if I win, I get to do something besides stay **here** all day."

"Like…?"

"Come with you to Central H.Q."

Ed looked taken aback for a moment, obviously surprised at the girl's request, before he nodded in agreement.

"Sure."

The two teens reached out and shook hands, sealing the deal. Ed then handed over some money, which she recognized to be something that he called sens. The reason that she recognized them was the fact that Al had convinced Ed that Annora needed something besides her jeans and tee-shirt to wear, which had resulted in an extremely disastrous shopping trip.

If there was only thing that Annora had learned during her stay in Amesteris, it was that you **never** take Ed with you when you're looking for clothes, especially girls undergarments. Not only was it embarrassing as hell for her when she realized that she **had** to purchase them, but it was a little humiliating to find out that her money wouldn't work here as well. When the cashier had told her that they didn't accept the kind of money that she had, (two twenty dollar bills), she had been surprised when Ed had actually offered to pay for her clothes. The walk home had been very quiet with both teens not saying a single word, although it had been apparent that both of them were embarrassed. The only good thing that came out of that incident was the fact that Annora now had something else to wear, even though most of the clothing that she had picked out were boys' clothes.

Once Ed had given her the money, Annora pocketed it and headed out the front gate. Al watched the girl intently until she disappeared down the street before he looked over at Ed.

"I'm not going help you do the dishes if you lose," he warned. The Fullmetal Alchemist glanced over at his brother and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"And who said that I would ask you to?"

"You didn't have to. You were thinking it."

Ed scowled before he turned back around and went into the house.

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"Here ya go, missy. Six buns and your change."

Annora smiled politely as she reached out and accepted the paper bag of hot dog buns and the ten sens that was her change.

"Thank you."

The baker, a big hefty man, grinned at her.

"No problem. It's always a pleasure serving a polite girl like you. Most kids these days have no manners, so it's refreshing to see that some of you still have them."

Annora just smiled, ignoring the last comment as she put the bread in the large paper grocery bag that contained the rest of her purchases. Once she had done that, she picked it up and walked out of the bakery, humming the tune to 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies' softly.

_'Finally. This is the first time I've been able to go out and do something without someone hanging over me!'_ the teenager thought happily as she walked down the street. _'It's so nice to get out of that house for once!'_

Annora shifted the bag over to the crook of her left arm and began counting off the items that she had already purchased on her fingers.

"Let's see… I've got the onion, a tomato, buns, mustard, and a quart of milk… that just leaves the sausages then."

The girl grinned as she increased her pace, heading for the butcher shop that she had passed by earlier. She was almost done, and once she finished the last part of her shopping, she could go home, cook dinner, and win the bet!

Annora couldn't help it, she began to hum happily again as she entered the butcher shop. The moment she entered the shop, her grin faltered as she saw the butcher standing behind the counter, hacking away at a particularly bloody cow leg. The blood slowly left the girl's face as she stared uneasily at the spray of blood that came up every time the meat cleaver bit into the cow's flesh.

_'Okay… that's a little gross.'_

The sixteen-year old swallowed nervously, shoving the thoughts involving every single urban legend she had heard involving butchers out of her mind before she walked up to the counter and rang the service bell. The man stopped chopping and set the meat cleaver down on the counter before he turned around to face Annora. The girl relaxed when the man smiled at her, his broad craggy face lighting up. When he spoke, it was with a thick Scottish accent.

"Ach, weel now lassie, what brings you 'bout te my shoop?"

(AN: If anyone reading this is Scottish and I offend them with my horrible grammar in this, I'm sorry. All I have to go on how to write a Scottish brogue is in a few books written by Brian Jacques. -.-;)

Annora grinned sheepishly, mentally berating herself for her earlier thoughts.

"I was looking for half a dozen sausages," she said. The butcher smiled at her as he ran a meaty hand through his gray-streaked hair.

"Weel then, you've come ta the right place. I'ave some ah the best sausages you'll evah eat!"

With that comment, the butcher removed six thick, juicy sausages from the display case and wrapped them up in white butcher paper before tying the package shut with a length of twine. He handed the package to Annora, who accepted it and handed over the amount needed for payment.

"D'ya need anythin' else, lassie?"

Annora looked thoughtful for a few moments before an idea came to her.

"Ah yes, I'd like some bacon too, please."

The man looked in the display case, and frowned when he found that he had no bacon in there. He straightened up and let out a hoarse bellow in the direction of the back room.

"Oi, Jack, ah've a pretty young lass out here that wants some bacon! Stir yer stumps lad and bring some out!"

Annora's cheeks turned pink from being referred to as a 'pretty young lass' while the butcher looked at the door expectantly for a few moments. When Jack didn't appear, he let out an exasperated sigh before he faced Annora.

"Sorry lass, looks like 'e's asleep back there. I'll go an' wake 'im."

With that comment, the butcher opened the back door and went in, shutting the door firmly behind him. Annora placed her newest package in the brown paper bag that held her other purchases and was just about to sit down on a bench when she heard a startled yell and a loud 'thud' come from the back room.

The girl looked over at the door and frowned. It sounded as though something had fallen on the butcher and had probably knocked him out. Annora gave a soft sigh as she set her bag down on the bench and went over to the door to the back room. When she opened it, she couldn't believe the sight that met her eyes.

The assistant, at least what she **assumed** was the assistant, lay on the concrete floor in a large pool of blood, chopped neatly into what looked almost like cuts of meat. The butcher lay not far from what was left of the assistant, out cold, and with somebody standing over him holding a butcher knife dripping with fresh blood. Annora's eyes widened as the blood drained from her face. It was all she could do to keep from screaming as she took a step back, clapping both hands over her mouth. Even so, she still let out a small gasp of fear. The person that was holding the knife turned around to look at her, and Annora was surprised to see that he was wearing armor.

(AN: Three guesses who this is, and the first two don't count.)

"Well lookie here," he growled as he faced her. "A little mouse that decided to wander in where she don't belong."

Normally, Annora would have immediately responded to anyone calling her a 'mouse' by kicking them in the shins. At the moment though, her mind was attempting to process the fact that a murderer was currently standing right in front of her, and the bloody butcher knife he was holding wasn't helping matters either.

"Ahh… oh… oh my God…" she managed to gasp out as she went white as a sheet. The man let out an insane laugh as he took a few steps towards her.

"I wouldn't be asking him to help you, beautiful," he sneered. "Besides, what is God anyway? All he happens to be is some shmuck that ignores you when you close your eyes and make a wish."

Annora didn't respond as she began to back away while she stuck her hand in her jacket pocket, feeling about frantically for anything that might help her. The only thing that she found that might be remotely of any use was a stick of chalk left over from her alchemy lesson with Al. The girl frowned as a cold chill crept up her spine.

"Say sweet cheeks, do you know who I am?" the man asked suddenly. Annora became even more nervous as she continued to back away.

"No, I can't say that I do," she replied honestly. The man looked at her for a few moments before he threw back his head and laughed.

_'This guy's nuts!'_ Annora realized as she stared at the man uneasily. After a few moments, he stopped laughing and fixed the girl with a look that made her blood run cold.

"I'm Barry the Chopper, kid! I kept all of Central terrified for months, killing over thirteen women!"

Annora's eyes grew to about the size of dinner plates before she whipped out the piece of chalk from her pocket, hastily drew a transmutation circle on the floor, and slammed her hands down on it, all in a matter of seconds. A stone slab shot out from the floor and collided with Barry's face, knocking off his helmet. When Annora caught sight of what lay underneath the serial killer's helmet, her face went white.

There was nothing inside the armor.

Annora began to hyperventilate as she stared at the empty armor that was walking towards her, chuckling.

""Never fails to shock people," Barry pointed out smugly as he picked up his helmet and put it back on. "Always freaks 'em out, me being empty. Although that makes things easier for me. It's been a while… since I've killed anyone."

That did it. Annora immediately lashed out, kicking the serial killer in the legs, which caused him to fall over. The teenager then bolted for the door, slamming it shut and locking it firmly. Just as the sixteen-year old backed away from the door, the tip of a meat cleaver was punched through the middle, accompanied by an angry shout.

"You little brat! I'll kill you for this!"

Annora didn't wait for any further threats; she grabbed her bag and hightailed it out of the butcher shop.

To say that Annora ran like a bat out of Hell would have been a gross understatement; the girl would have left any of the best long distance runners in the **world** behind as she raced frantically through the streets of Central in a blind panic. The consistent clanking sound that was Barry running after her also contributed to her fear, making it so that she didn't try to find someplace to hide and catch her breath. It was only when she dashed around a corner at full speed and slammed into someone that she stopped, almost falling flat on her face in the process. The sixteen-year old looked at the person that she had almost knocked over and gave a small gasp of surprise.

"Mr. Hughes!"

Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes looked down at Annora in surprise before he smiled at her.

"It's Annora, am I right?" he asked. "What are you doing out here? It looks like you're in a hurry to get somewhere."

Annora stared at the man before she suddenly realized that he might be able to help her.

"There's this empty suit of armor like Al that's chasing me, but it's not like Al because it's carrying a freaking butcher knife and it's trying to kill me!"

Hughes looked at Annora curiously before the clanking sound that Barry made while he was running became evident. The man's eyes narrowed as he pulled out his gun from its holster and removed the safety.

"There's someone after you, correct?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice as he focused on the corner that Annora had gone around only moments earlier. Annora nodded furiously as she scooted slightly behind Hughes.

"Yeah, there is."

It was at this moment that Barry the Chopper came around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the gun that Hughes was pointing in his direction.

"Stop right there before I put a bullet right between your eyes," Hughes warned as Annora opened her mouth to protest. Barry looked at him before he threw back his head and began to laugh insanely.

"You think that a couple of lousy pieces of lead can hurt me?! Good luck with that theory, chump!"

Hughes immediately opened fire; sending two rounds right into the serial killer's helmet and knocking it clean off. The man paled slightly at the sight while Annora made a face.

"I tried that one already. It didn't work," she pointed out shakily. Hughes fired off one more shot as he glanced back at Annora.

"Well then, I have the perfect solution for a situation like this."

"What?"

Annora looked at the Lt. Colonel as he holstered his pistol and grabbed her left hand.

"Run like hell!!"

And with that comment, they took off.

Annora held on to Hughes hand with a death grip as she half ran, and was half-dragged away from the serial killer. After a few blocks, they looked back to find that they had somehow lost Barry, not that that was a bad thing. Annora let out a huge sigh of relief as she sagged against the wall of a building that they were next to while Hughes looked around them intently.

"Looks like we lost him," Hughes stated as he pulled out his gun and reloaded it. Annora nodded as she placed her hand on her legs, which were shaking.

"Thank goodness. That was one of the weirdest things that I have **ever** seen in my life."

The man nodded in silent agreement as he returned his gun to its holster.

"Somehow, I think that it would be best if I escorted you back to the Elric's house."

"Thank you. Geez, I'm going to be jumpy for the rest of the week now!" Annora muttered as they set off down the street.

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Alphonse stood out on the front walk of the house that he and Ed were staying at, watching the sun set. He was a little worried over the fact that Annora had been gone for over an hour, and silently hoped that the girl was okay.

_'It's strange… I've gotten so used to her being around here that it seems odd for her to be gone. Brother's worried too, even though he'll never admit it…'_

There was truth in Al's statement; Ed was currently sitting out on the couch in the living room, staring at the clock on the mantle and drumming his fingers nervously. All of a sudden, a shot broke through Al's trance.

"Hey Alphonse!"

Al barely had time to turn around before Annora ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Boy am I ever glad to see you!" she declared as she released him. "You won't believe what happened to me!"

If Al had possessed a body at that moment, his face would have been beet red.

_'Did I… just get hugged… by a girl…?'_ he wondered in a stunned daze. It was only then that he noticed Hughes standing by the gate with a grin on his face.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, what are you doing here?"

"I met up with your friend here a couple of blocks away from a butcher shop with some loony in a suit of armor running after her with a bloody meat cleaver. It turned out that the armor was empty an, and we managed to get away. Right now the MP's are looking for him, but we really have no idea as to where he is."

Ed had come out just in time to hear the 'loony in armor' comment, and was frowning.

"Did he ask what his name was?" he asked suddenly. Annora looked over at the teenage alchemist in surprise as she switched her bag over to her other arm.

"Yeah, he called himself 'Barry the Chopper'."

At the shocked looks that she received from both brothers, Annora frowned slightly in confusion.

"What?"

"Are you serious?" Al asked hesitantly. Annora nodded in response before she grinned sheepishly.

"Thanks for the alchemy lessons by the way, they saved my life."

Hughes looked at the three teens and then at his watch before he waved at them.

"Well then, it looks like I had better get going! See you later Ed!" he called out as he set off down the street, leaving three very confused teenagers in his wake. Sweatdrops ran down the back of their heads as they all contemplated the strangeness of what had just taken place.

"Well, that was weird," Annora finally commented after several long minutes of stunned silence.

"You got that right," Ed agreed as he stared in the direction that Hughes had suddenly departed from. Annora cocked an eyebrow in surprise as she looked over at the other teenager.

"You're actually agreeing with me for once?" she asked in mock disbelief. "Wow, now I **know** that hell has frozen over."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed growled as he glared at her. Annora just gave a neutral shrug in response before she turned around and began to head inside.

"Alright then, I don't know about you two, but I'm hungry. Who feels like having dinner and a movie?"

Both Ed and Al gave the girl odd looks as they followed her inside.

"How are you going to manage that?" Ed asked skeptically. Annora glanced behind her and smirked knowingly.

"Just wait and see."

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"Brother, what do you think Annora is doing?"

Ed, who was sitting on the couch after being chased out of the kitchen and being told in no uncertain terms that he was to stay out by Annora, rolled his eyes.

"I have no clue, Al, but it's starting to smell good."

The teenage alchemist turned a bright red when he realized just what he had said, while Al snickered. After several seconds, Ed began to get annoyed.

"What's so funny?" he demanded. Al finally managed to get a hold of himself and looked at his older brother.

"Brother, you're drooling," he pointed out before he erupted into laughter once again. The Fullmetal Alchemist, if possible, turned an even brighter shade of red as he hastily wiped away a thin trail of drool from the corner of his mouth with a gloved hand while he glared at Al.

(AN: Ha ha, Ed's drooling!)

It was in that moment that Annora came into the room holding two plates, each with a large sausage, mustard, and cooked onions on a bun. The girl set down both plates on the coffee table with a small smirk on her face before she dashed back into the kitchen and came back holding silverware and two glasses of milk. Ed's reaction was immediate.

"Where the hell did you get that crap?! Keep it away from me!!"

Annora looked at him in surprise.

"You don't like milk?"

"No, I don't! And don't say I'm small because I don't drink it!!"

"… I wasn't going to."

"Good!"

The sixteen-year old stared at Ed for a few moments before she rolled her eyes and shook her head. Ed cocked a golden eyebrow as he looked at her.

"What?"

"Nothing. Okay, who wants to see a movie?" Annora asked. Al raised a hand immediately while Ed scowled slightly. Annora shook her head as she turned around and ran upstairs to the room that she and Al had cleaned out over a week ago for her to use as a bedroom. Within a few minutes, she came back carrying a black cloth case in her hands. The girl ignored the curious glances that both brothers sent in her direction as she knelt down on the floor and unzipped the case, removing her laptop from inside.

Ed stared at the flat black rectangle that Annora set down on the table incredulously. Even though he would never admit it, he had absolutely no idea as to what the object was.

"This is a laptop computer," Annora explained as she pressed the catch on the front and flipped open the laptop to reveal the screen and keyboard. "It lets you do a lot of things on here, like typing up documents and stuff. It can also hold music, pictures, and movies. I have a few movies on file, so that's what we're going to see in a few minutes."

Annora grinned as she selected a video file and clicked on it before she got up and turned off all the lights in the living room. She then picked up her plate and sat down on the couch.

"Just what exactly are we going to watch?" Ed asked as the beginning credits started to roll. Annora looked over at him and smirked knowingly.

"Let's just say that you'll find out what a hobbit is," she replied cryptically. Ed raised an eyebrow and returned his attention to the computer screen just in time to see the words 'Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' come up.

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**Two and a half hours later **

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The famed Fullmetal Alchemist, who had gotten his State Alchemist license at the tender age of twelve, stared slack-jawed at the screen of the laptop as the image of Frodo and Sam setting off down the river faded and the ending credits began. Annora leaned back slightly and crossed her arms over her chest while a faint smirk played about her lips. I took several minutes before Ed could actually regain the use of speech.

"So let me get this straight," he began, looking over at Annora, who was gathering up the dirty dishes. "A hobbit is some runty little kid with pointy ears, runs around barefoot, and lives in some place called the Shire?"

"Pretty much."

Ed scowled as he clenched his right fist angrily.

"I am **not** a goddamned hobbit!!"

Later that night, when everyone was asleep, Annora was forced to burry her head in her pillow as she burst out laughing at the memory of Ed's response.

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Woo hoo! Five chapters, I am on a roll! Not to mention all the reviews! I have 34 reviews! (Does the happy dance. Ed, Al, Mustang, Hawkeye and Annora all stare at her.)

Annora: Okay, it's official. She's lost it.

Ed: Oh yeah, definitely.

Al: Brother, she's scaring me.

Wandering Hitokiri: (Twitches) I'm still perfectly sane! So stop treating me like I'm mentally unstable!

Mustang: What, are you saying that aren't?

Wandering Hitokiri: … I hate you all.

Anyways, I now have a picture of Annora on DeviantArt, so if you want to see it, just go to my Fan Fiction profile and click on the link. And now for the reviews!

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**Reviews **

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The Maine Coon Cat: I'm glad that you like Annora's personality. She can be a real spitfire when she wants to be, but sometimes there are just things that can catch her off guard. Take the whole incident with Al in chapter three for instance. Ah yes, she hates Envy with a passion, as do I, so that makes things a little more interesting. There will be more trash can puns in the future, that's a promise.

Liah Cauthon: I'm glad that you liked my chapter. There are grammar whores? Scary.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: Yeah, Annora does have a weak side, and her tomboyishness often tends to get her into trouble. Not to mention the fact that she absolutely **loathes** snakes. Hmm… maybe I should put that in a later chapter. (Smirks evilly)

Fullmetal Archer: You like my story? That's awesome! I love your story Across the Void, and I can't wait for the next chapter! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story!

Lightning Dragon Alchemist: Sorry I haven't been able to reply because Fan Fiction decided to be stupid, but intelligence will prevail!! I will send you a message! Thank you so much for your complements, and I agree. It always helps to bounce ideas off of a friend.

Siacatmesecat: Yay, another RK fan! I'm glad that you enjoy my work.

richard9311: I like to harass Mustang, can't you tell? Oh, there will be more harassment in chapter six, so keep watch!

Kamisori Kaze no Renkinjutsu: Nice name. Thanks for all the reviews, they made me laugh. Out of curiosity, do you have the rest of the 'I pledge allegiance to the flag, that Colonel Mustang is a fag…'? I really would like the rest if you have it. Yeah, Envy is really gay.

Rikdo Osaka: I'm very happy that you enjoy my story. I enjoy writing it and getting reviews, as well as laughing at some of the comments I get about Envy being gay.

-holy- priestess: Nah, I don't mind people getting ideas from my story. It's all out theft that I hate, like people stealing my characters or my story. Anyways, I liked that Hughes quote as well, which is why I use it. I found it on YouTube after many hours of laughing my butt off.


	6. Chapter Six: Christmas Chaos

**Chapter Six:**

**Christmas Chaos**

**Whump!!**

"Damn it! Stupid shoes! Why the hell are they even there?!"

Annora cracked her eyes open and let out a sleepy yawn before she sat up and scrubbed the back of her hand across her eyes to rub away the sleep. She looked over at her snow-covered window where dim winter light was shining through and shook her head.

"It had better be later than it feels," she grumbled just as she heard a loud crash, followed by a rather long stream of obscenities, echo outside her door. The teenager stared at her door as she caught snatches of the rant that was taking place outside her door.

"Stupid fucking doorjamb, always tripping me. Well how do you like this now, you sadist?!"

A flash of bright blue light followed this statement, indicating that Ed had lost his temper yet again after tripping over the doorjamb to the bathroom while half asleep. Annora rolled her eyes as she tried not to laugh as she got up out of bed.

"I better be able to close the door this time," she muttered as she went over to the ancient wooden dresser that held her clothes. It was almost a morning routine for Ed to trip and fall flat on his face while trying to go into the bathroom and take a shower, as were all the profanities that he used after meeting the hardwood floor.

The girl pulled out a navy t-shirt, green long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and socks from her dresser before she began to get dressed. After pulling on her tennis shoes, she stood up and went over to the desk that sat up against the wall opposite to her bed, where all her textbooks, sketch book, laptop, MP3 player, and a couple of alchemy books lay scattered across the wooden surface. She picked up slightly beat-up spiral notebook and flipped it open to a page full of tally marks. After a silent count up, she added one more mark to the page before she realized that she had been in Amestris for almost a month.

'_Let's see… it was December 1__st__ when I first came here, and it's been twenty-two days since then… so that means that today's the 23__rd__! That's the day before Christmas Eve!'_

Annora sat down on her bed and sighed as she shook her head.

"I can't believe that it's almost Christmas," she muttered. Everything has been going so fast these past few weeks."

She sat there for a few minutes, thinking, before her stomach let out a growl, reminding her that she hadn't eaten breakfast yet. The sixteen-year old stood up again and had just stepped out her door when the bathroom door flew open, and she was knocked over by a very wet Edward Elric. Annora let out a startled 'oof' as she hit the floor with Ed landing right on top of her. The teenager felt the air whoosh out of her lungs, leaving her winded and gasping desperately for breath. Once Annora had gotten her breath back, she realized just exactly who was sitting on top of her with his hand dangerously close to a certain area of her chest. A brilliant red blush flamed across the faces of both teenagers.

Al, who was downstairs, jumped about a foot in the air when piercing shriek of "Pervert!" and an echoing '**crack**' come from upstairs, soon followed by Annora come storming down the stairs with her cheeks stained crimson. The fifteen-year old followed the angry girl into the kitchen, where she venomously pulled a slice of bread out of a bag, jammed it into the toaster and hit the leaver that pulled the bread down. She then pulled a plate, glass, and knife out of the drain rack and placed them down on the table before going over to the refrigerator and pulling out a carton of orange juice along with some butter from its cool interior. These she set down next to her plate without saying a word. Al watched the whole thing in silence; he was already unnerved from Annora's angry expression, and her silent fuming wasn't helping either.

"Umm… Annora, what happened?"

Annora turned around to face him, and took a deep breath in an effort to calm down before she explained.

"Sorry Al, I didn't mean to scare you. I just had a little… problem upstairs."

The possessed suit of armor looked at her strangely as she poured a glass of orange juice.

"What kind of problem?"

It was at that moment that Ed came downstairs with a bright red handprint on his left cheek, interrupting their conversation. Al looked at Ed, who was glaring at Annora with a disgruntled expression on his face while the girl pointedly ignored him, and understood almost instantly what had happened. He couldn't help it; he snickered. Angry golden eyes immediately snapped to look over in Al's direction and narrowed.

"What's so funny?" Ed asked in a dangerously calm voice. Annora just rolled her eyes and ignored the angry boy as she grabbed her piece of toast from the toaster just seconds after it had popped up and began to spread butter over the hot bread. Al began to sweat nervously as he stared at his older brother apprehensively.

"Umm… it's nothing!" he exclaimed in an uneasy voice. Ed gave him a skeptical look as he raised an eyebrow.

"You were eavesdropping, weren't you?"

"But Brother, you always say that you don't learn anything if you don't listen in."

Annora gave a very un-ladylike snort of amusement as she fought the urge to spit out her orange juice and burst out laughing, although she almost did have juice go up her nose. Once she had managed to get her mirth under control, she swallowed her orange juice and smirked knowingly.

"It's kind of like how you don't grow if you don't drink your milk," she pointed out. Al stared at her like she had completely lost her mind, while Ed failed to see any humor at all in the comment and exploded.

"**WHY THE HELL WOULD I EVEN WANT TO DRINK THAT CRAP?! I WOULD MUCH RATHER ****NOT**** DRINK EXCREMENTS FROM A COW, THANK YOU ****VERY**** MUCH! AND YOU DON'T GET ANY TALLER JUST BY DRINKING THAT PUTRID, DISAESE-INFESTED SLUDGE!! BESIDES, I DON'T NEED TO GROW ANY TALLER ANYWAYS, SO YOU CAN KEEP THAT SHIT THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!!"**

Annora wiggled a finger in her ear to make sure that she hadn't gone deaf while she stared at Ed, who was standing in the middle of the kitchen with both gloved fists clenched and his chest heaving from all the shouting that he had just done. The sixteen-year old then cocked an eyebrow as she gave Ed a crooked grin.

"So I'm guessing that locking you in a milk processing plant for four days is out of the question then."

Al was forced to restrain Ed from causing extreme bodily harm to Annora while the boy spouted out a very long, detailed stream of obscenities in response.

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By the time that the three teens left the house and had started to trudge through the deep snow covering the ground en route to Central Headquarters, Ed had calmed down enough so that Al no longer had to restrain him to keep his brother from trying to strangle Annora, but he would still occasionally glance over in the girl's direction and mutter a profanity under his breath. Annora looked over at Edward and cocked an eyebrow when she heard him mutter the words 'psycho' and 'how can she even **stand** that crap?'.

"Excuse me, what was that last one?" she asked in a warning tone. Ed looked back at her and made a face.

"None of your damn business."

Shock flickered across Annora's face before her eyes narrowed dangerously. Ed didn't notice this, seeing as he had already turned around. A few moments later, Annora called out.

"Hey Ed, check this out!"

The Fullmetal Alchemist turned around and- **POW!**, a huge snowball slammed right into his face, knocking him flat on his butt.

Annora smirked as she brushed off the snow that still clung to her brown leather gloves.

"Don't screw around with someone that grew up in Flagstaff," she warned. Ed stood up, his face flushed with anger as he wiped some of the fragments of the snowball that still clung to his face and hair before a homicidal gleam entered his eyes. A chill ran up the girl's spine as she stared at Ed, who was looking at her with an extremely unnerving expression on his face. Annora immediately recognized the glint of retaliation in the alchemist's eyes and began to back away. When Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground, transmuting a giant snowball, Annora knew that she was in deep trouble.

"Oh crap."

Ed picked up the snowball and smirked at her.

"Don't mess with an alchemist," he retorted as he threw the snowball. Annora let out a curse as she scrambled backwards, barely avoiding getting creamed by the monster snowball. She glared at Ed before the corners of her mouth twitched up into a smirk.

"You do realize that this means war!" she declared. Ed looked startled for a moment before he ducked, letting the snowball that followed Annora's statement sail harmlessly over him. Defiance flared in the teen's eyes as he straightened up.

"Don't expect me top go easy on you just because you're a girl!"

**SPLAT!**

Snow flaked off Ed's face as his right eye began to twitch violently. Annora had pegged him right in the face with another snowball that she had kept in reserve.

"Then don't expect me to go easy on **you** just because you're a shrimp!"

There was dead silence for a few moments before Edward exploded into a raging fury.

"Who're you calling a runty little kid that needs stilts to reach anything?!" he roared as he flung an impossibly massive amount of snowballs at Annora, who gave a startled yelp and dove behind a snow bank to avoid to avoid the mass assault that the teenager launched at her.

"Note to self: don't stand out in the open when I say something like that," she muttered as she began to pack snowballs as fast as she could. The sixteen-year old was surprised when Al suddenly joined her by her sparse shelter.

"Al, what're you doing here?" she asked as she added yet another snowball to her steadily growing pile.

"I'm helping you, what does it look like?" he responded as he sketched a transmutation circle onto the snow and placed his hands on it, erecting a two foot high wall of icy snow that formed a semi-circle around them, creating an instant snow fort.

Annora gave the boy a grateful look as she increased her efforts in making more snowballs.

"Where were you when I was in elementary school?" she asked in admiration just as Ed gave an angry shriek.

"Al, you traitor!"

Needless to say, things went downhill from there.

After several minutes of heavy snowball fighting, and finding out that Al had one heck of a good throwing arm, not to mention his impeccable aim, the chaos was interrupted by a certain individual walking to work. Annora, who was about to cream Ed yet again with a snowball, froze in mid-throw when she heard someone behind her exclaim.

"What the hell?"

The sixteen-year old turned around to see Colonel Mustang standing behind her and Al, staring at the two of them with a bemused expression on his face.

"Oh, hi Colonel. How are –OW!" Annora whirled around to face Ed, who had just hit her in the back of the head with a snowball. "You jerk! That hurt!"

Mustang just rolled his eyes and continued walking, going right between where Ed was standing and Al and Annora's snow fort. That turned out to be a **huge** mistake on his part.

Ed immediately realized just who was walking directly into his line of fire, and a sadistic smirk crept across his face. He bent down and scooped up a gigantic heap of snow, shaping it into a massive icy orb. The teenage alchemist then straightened up, holding the enormous snowball in his right hand.

"Hey Colonel Bastard!" he cried out, his golden eyes shining with savage delight. "Here's your Christmas present!!"

Mustang looked over in his direction, and his dark eyes widened when he caught sight of the frozen projectile heading his way. It collided with a sickening 'splat', and Annora and Alphonse both flinched before they ducked down, lying flat on their stomachs behind their snow fort. It was a good thing that they did, because a split second later, the two teens heard the unmistakable sound of fingers snapping, followed closely by a teeth-rattling 'boom'. Then, surprisingly, several gunshots followed the explosion. Annora's eyes widened as she glanced over at Al, who also looked extremely nervous. Both teens jumped about a foot in the air when the no-nonsense voice of First Lieutenant Hawkeye rang out.

"Alright you two, it's safe to come out now."

Annora cautiously peered over the top of the snow fort, and burst out laughing at the sight that met her eyes as she and Alphonse stood up. A very angry Ed, who looked a little scorched, was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his eyes narrowed angrily as he glared at Mustang. The Flame Alchemist however, was in a far more precarious position, seeing as Hawkeye's gun was pointed directly at him and her finger was on the trigger.

"What's so funny?" Ed growled. Annora looked over at him and tried not to laugh as she covered her mouth with one hand.

"You look like someone stuffed you down a chimney with all that soot on you," she pointed out. Ed just rolled his eyes as he brushed at the scorch marks on his jacket. Mustang opened his mouth to say something, only to have Hawkeye interrupt.

"It's getting late. We should all hurry up before people wonder why we're not at H.Q.," she stated pointedly. Ed took this as his cue to get away before Mustang could reprimand him, and headed for the military office at a fast walk. Annora started after him, and noticed that he was about to step on a patch of ice.

"Ed, watch out for that-" CRASH! "ice…"

The Fullmetal Alchemist had landed flat on his rear, and he sat up, wincing and rubbing at the offended area as Annora jogged up to him, taking care to avoid the ice herself.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she held out her right hand. Ed looked at her in surprise for a few seconds before he took it and allowed the girl to help him to his feet.

"Yeah, I think so. But sitting down is going to hurt like hell today," he muttered. Annora gave him a sympathetic look.

"I know how that one feels. It stinks."

Ed had a slightly confused expression on his face, and started to as Annora something just as Mustang called out.

"Fullmetal, there's going to be a Christmas party tomorrow evening for all military members and their families."

Ed glanced back and raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

A knowing smirk crept onto the Colonel's face as he looked at the younger boy.

"You and your girlfriend are going to come, and that's an order. Might I also add that formal dress is required?"

Ed stared at Mustang in stunned horror before he and Annora both realized what the man's comment meant.

"What?!" they both yelped. Mustang's smirk, if at all possible, grew wider. Ed immediately tried to go after him, only to have Annora hold him back.

"That's not fair!" he accused. The Colonel raised a dark eyebrow in a mocking manner.

"Since when is life ever fair, Fullmetal?"

Annora was forced to dig her heels into the ground as she tried desperately to keep Edward from going after Mustang, and let out a startled curse when the boy began to pull her forward. Fortunately, Al came over and grabbed the angry teen as well, and between the two of them, they dragged the alchemist away in the direction of H.Q., with Ed spewing a long list of profanities the entire way.

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It took a while, but once Ed had calmed down, the three teens were able to have a normal conversation after visiting the Central library, well, at least as normal as it could get with Ed and Annora.

"So, what is it exactly that you two are looking for again?" Annora asked as she dumped the load of books that she had been carrying onto the desk in the room that Ed and Al used for doing research. "It must be pretty big for you guys to raid the library and steal every single book on alchemy that they have."

"We didn't take all of the alchemy books," Al pointed out as he set down his stack as well. "Just the ones we haven't read yet."

Annora's eyes grew wide before she gave a low whistle of astonishment. Ed, who had pulled out a large hard covered notebook and was already reading one of the huge books on alchemy that they had brought over from the library, looked over at her.

"What we're looking for is called the Philosopher's Stone. It's an amplifier that allows you to bypass the laws of alchemy. So far, Al and I have found quite a few fakes, and hit enough dead ends to make anyone go insane, not to mention homicidal. It's a little frustrating sometimes because it seems like for every step we take forward, we take two steps back."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Annora agreed as she plonked down in one of the empty wooden chairs surrounding the table and pulled her sketchpad out from her backpack. Ed looked over her shoulder to see what she was drawing and let out a startled curse.

"What the hell?!"

"What?" Annora looked over at him, her chocolate eyes wide. "What's wrong?"

"Where did you see that?!" he demanded, jabbing a gloved finger angrily at the drawing. Annora looked back and forth between Ed and her drawing before she set down her pencil and pointed at her half-finished drawing.

"You mean this thing? I had a really weird dream last night; you know, one of those dreams that's not quite a nightmare, but still freaky enough to scare the crap out of you? Well, this thing was in my dreams last night."

Ed frowned as he looked at the drawing pensively. "Then why did you draw it if it freaked you out?"

"I've found out that it helps me get over the dream, especially if it's a W.A.S. dream."

"W.A.S?"

"Weird As Shit, W.A.S. Anyways, it helps if I at least sketch what I saw. Maybe that's just because I get it out of my mind and turn it into something that's two-dimensional, something that no longer exists in the actual plane of reality. Kind of dumb, huh?" Annora looked thoughtful for a moment before she shrugged as she gave the boy a bemused expression. "Although I don't think that I can exactly say that anymore. Anyways, a couple of times, I've had my art teacher think that my sketches were an assignment, and he gave me an 'A' on them."

Ed ignored this comment as he stared at Annora's sketch. It wasn't finished, but it was impossible to mistake the subject of the drawing for anything else. There, on Annora's sketchpad in clearly shaded pencil, was the Gate, with a young boy standing in front of it. Ed frowned as he ran a gloved hand lightly over the paper's rough surface, taking great pains not to smear the pencil marks on it.

The teenage alchemist stared intently at the sketch for several long minutes while Annora and Alphonse waited in a nervous silence. Finally, Ed set the drawing pad down and let out a long breath.

"Well, it's very… interesting," he said hesitantly as he sat down. Annora looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. For some strange reason, she didn't believe the boy when he said that. When he had first seen the sketch, an expression of shock, pain, fear, and then anger had made its way across Ed's face. She started to ask why Ed had reacted the way he did when he hastily changed the subject.

"So, who's looking forward to the Christmas party tomorrow?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. He received his answer in the form of a wadded up ball of old notebook paper that Annora threw at him.

"Ha ha, very funny," she retorted as she rolled her eyes. "In fact, that was so funny that I forgot to laugh."

Ed actually chuckled at this comment and shook his head.

"I guess that it's safe for me to assume that you don't want to go then?"

Annora gave a disbelieving snort as she looked at Ed.

"It's not just that," she pointed out as she spread her arms out to give the brothers a good look at what she was wearing. "Does this look like something that someone would wear to a formal dance?"

Ed an Al stared at her for a few moments before the older Elric began to snicker uncontrollably. On the dark blue t-shirt that Annora was wearing over her green long-sleeved one, a green pine tree was printed next to the words 'Save the trees, wipe your ass with an owl,' written on it in bold white lettering.

"No, it doesn't," he agreed as he tried to stop laughing. "Where do you get those shirts anyways?"

Annora raised an eyebrow as she gave Ed an amused look.

"I put the sayings on there myself using alchemy. All it took was changing the chemical construction of the dye on the shirts in certain areas. And no, I did not make up those sayings myself. I've seen them on shirts back where I lived in Flagstaff. If you think that this one's funny, you should see some of the ones that I have a home." Her expression sobered as she looked at the two boys. "All joking aside though, I just don't have any clothes that would fit the criteria that Colonel Fathead stated earlier. So unless he wants me to come to some fancy party wearing jeans and a t-shirt, I don't think that I'm going."

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Colonel Roy Mustang frowned thoughtfully as he moved away from the door to the office that Ed used for doing research where he had been listening in on the teen's conversation. So the girl didn't have the proper attire to attend the Christmas party? That could be fixed easily enough, at least with the help of another individual who had far more experience in matters such as these than he did. A knowing smile crossed the man's face as he strolled down the hall to find the person that he needed. This could prove to be quite interesting indeed.

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**The next morning**

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Annora and Ed were in the middle of breakfast when someone knocked on the front door.

Both teens looked at each other before Annora stood up and managed to drain the rest of the milk from her glass while Ed ran to the door. Annora had just put her and Ed's dishes in the sink when she heard Ed exclaim in surprise.

"First Lieutenant?"

The sixteen-year old froze where she stood, her hands still immersed in hot soapy water, before she shouted over her shoulder.

"Whatever it was, I **didn't** do it!"

An amused chuckle answered her fervent statement. Annora wiped her hands dry on the legs of her jeans as she left the kitchen. There, seated in the living room dressed in civilian clothes, was Riza Hawkeye. With her hair down, along with the change of dress, Annora hardly recognized the older woman.

"What brings you here, First Lieutenant?" Ed asked curiously while Annora flopped down on an empty sofa seat next to him. A slow smile crossed the woman's face as she looked steadily at the two teenagers.

"I was wondering if it would be okay with you and Alphonse if I borrowed Annora for the day. You see, I need some help with some things, and they require the mindset of another woman."

Annora turned red at this statement; it was the first time that anyone outside of her family had ever called her a 'woman'. Hawkeye didn't seem to notice this as she continued her request.

"I promise that we'll be finished in time for the party tonight. Actually, I think that it would be best if I took her to the Christmas party myself and that way she'll be able to meet up with you two there."

Annora's jaw dropped as she stared wide-eyed at Hawkeye. Of all the things that she had expected, this was certainly not one of them. Just what exactly did Hawkeye need help with anyway? She was one of the most respected officials in Central, and was well known for her no-nonsense attitude. Annora looked over at Ed, and felt an icy trail of fear go down her spine. The boy had an almost unholy look in his eyes, and the evil smirk that flickered across his face momentarily did nothing to dispel that thought.

"Sure you can. I think that it's a **great** idea for you to get Annora out of the house for a little while."

Before Annora could even protest, she was handed her jacket, gloves, and scarf, and was hustled out the front door right behind Hawkeye, all within a matter of minutes. The teenager scowled as she followed the older woman into the winter morning; Ed was going to be in **so** much trouble the next time that she saw him.

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**That evening**

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"She ditched us," Ed grumbled as he pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at it for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes. "What do you want to bet that she and Hawkeye are sitting somewhere, laughing their butts off over the fact that they gave us all the slip?"

Al let out an aggravated sigh and shook his head slowly as he tried to calm his brother down. It was only a quarter after seven, so it wasn't too late. In his personal opinion, Ed was stressing out way too much, although that might have just been because he was worried, not that he would ever admit it though. Just as Al was about to start teasing his older brother about being a worrywart, he caught sight of a girl standing near a wall on the opposite side of the cafeteria. The fifteen-year old stared at her for a few moments before he realized just who it was.

"Umm… Brother," Al began as he tapped Ed on the shoulder to get his attention before he pointed at the girl. "Call me crazy, but I think that that's Annora over there."

Ed's eyebrows shot up in surprise and disbelief before he silently stole over to a spot near where the girl stood and looked closely at her. She was wearing a silver blue gown with a bow tied around her waist that went down to her ankles, revealing a pair of black high-heeled sandals. A long blue ribbon was threaded through her hair just above the base of her neck, and she was also wearing a blue heart-shaped stone pendant on a black satin string.

The teenage alchemist practically felt his hormones surge as he tugged nervously at his red tie. He had never really looked at girls before, not even Winry, and that was making him uneasy, even though he had absolutely no idea as to why he felt like that. There was only one thing that puzzled him that he would actually admit, and that was the fact that he couldn't possibly see how the girl he was looking at, who seemed to be extremely nervous, could be Annora. That was at least until he walked up to her and saw the familiar fire flare up in her eyes.

"You laugh, and you will die!" she hissed, although the blush that flamed across her cheeks indicated otherwise. Ed looked at her before a slow grin crossed his face.

"Are you wearing makeup?"

Annora turned an even brighter shade of red as she looked at him.

"Yes," she muttered softly. Ed started to snicker, although he stopped when Al stepped on his right foot. The boy then decided to go on a different tangent.

"Well, this is something that I never thought I'd see," he quipped, mischief glinting in his golden eyes. "You wearing a dress."

Annora rolled her eyes upwards in response.

"Yeah, well I never would have thought that I'd see you wearing a suit, so I think we're both equally surprised."

Al chuckled at the girl's comment while Ed looked down at the black dress slacks, suit jacket, and dark gray shirt that he was wearing, along with his usual white gloves.

"I think that this will most likely be the **only** time that you'll ever see Brother wearing a suit," he pointed out. Ed glanced over at the possessed suit of armor and made a face.

"How funny that you should say that, seeing as all you ever wear is a loincloth, Al," he muttered. He then gave a yelp as Annora swatted him upside the head, hard.

"Stop being such a grump, Ed," she warned, her mahogany eyes serious before she smiled and ran a hand nervously through her bangs.

"Anyways, this will probably be the only time that you two will ever see me in a dress, especially one this fancy."

It was at that point that Mustang came up to the three teens, his customary smirk in place.

"Well, well, well, I see that you two clean up nice," he stated knowingly.

Annora and Ed both cocked an eyebrow before they rolled their eyes, turned around, and walked away. Mustang tried to go after the teens in an attempt to annoy them even more, but Hawkeye threw a monkey wrench into that plan when she grabbed a hold of the Colonel's dark green tie and held him back.

"That's enough, sir," she stated in a no-nonsense tone. Mustang flinched as Hawkeye dragged him away by his tie, causing the man to make loud choking noises as she did so. (Now, whether these were the sounds of someone actually being deprived of air or just Mustang being melodramatic as usual, we will never know.) The rest of the night continued on a somewhat similar trend.

Not too long after Mustang was dragged away by Hawkeye, Ed, Al, and Annora all got ambushed by Hughes, and consequently were dragged away against their will to meet, as Hughes put it, 'his precious little girl'. It was during the conversation with the Lt. Colonel's family that all hell broke loose.

A couple of the younger military members had brought along a few flasks containing brandy, and even one with vodka, seeing as the individuals that had planned the refreshments had seen fit to make sure that there were no alcoholic beverages served. Needless to say, these men became very drunk in a relatively short matter of time; so what did they do? They started to sing Christmas carols, ones with highly inappropriate lyrics.

Ed looked over at Annora, who was in the middle of being shown an inhuman amount of pictures of Elysia by Hughes.

"Hey, do you hear people singing?" he asked. Annora frowned as she listened intently. Sure enough, in between the beats of the music that was being played by the DJ, there was the unmistakable sound of people singing. A slow grin crossed the girl's face as she looked back at her friend.

"Sounds like Christmas carols to me," she pointed out, although it was at that point that the DJ decided to stop playing the album that he was on, and the lyrics to the 'Christmas carols' became clear. Annora's eyes widened and she slowly paled while Gracia clapped her hands over Elysia's ears. In a matter of seconds, Hughes was standing in front of the three drunk soldiers with his gun out and aimed directly at them.

"Don't you dare ruin my daughter's innocence," he warned, his eyes glinting with a murderous light. One of the men blinked stupidly as he stared at the gun barrel before he recited.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag, that Colonel Mustang is a fag-"

He didn't get much further than that, because Mustang suddenly appeared behind him with his ignition cloth gloves on.

"Do you care to repeat that comment, Private?" he asked in a deadly tone. The man looked at him before he cheerfully began to repeat the limerick. Annora decided to leave the area before she became a witness to a very violent murder, as did several other people. Fortunately for the poor drunk idiot that had aroused the Colonel's fury, Hawkeye interfered before blood could be spilt. Well, at least large amounts of it. Annora glanced back and shook her head, muttering something about men being idiots as she headed over towards the refreshment table. It was there that she ran into more trouble.

Just as the sixteen-year old was about to pick up a cup of lemonade, she felt someone place a slightly calloused hand on the middle of her back. The girl's eyes widened before she whirled around to face two extremely drunk soldiers standing behind her with goofy grins on their faces. Annora mentally groaned when she smelled the alcohol on their breath.

'_Oh no, not more of them.'_

"Hey there gorgeous, how about dancin' with us?" one of them, a brown haired man with freckles that couldn't have been more than twenty, slurred. Annora frowned as she began to back away.

"Sorry, but I don't date outside my species," she remarked, and cursed silently when she backed into a wall. The other man, a scrawny red-head that was a little older than his friend, grinned roguishly in a drunken way.

"Aww, c'mon. You know you want to," he insisted as he grabbed Annora's arm. "We'll make it worth your while. My bed's been real lonely for the past few nights."

Annora's eyes widened before she tried to yank her arm away.

"No thank you!" she growled. She was surprised when Ed suddenly appeared out of nowhere and yanked both of the men away from her while fury shone in his golden eyes.

"I don't think that she's interested," he stated coldly while Annora shot him a grateful look. Both of the soldiers looked at him in surprise before the lanky one grinned slowly as he put his arm around Ed and pulled him close.

"Hi there sweetie, what's a pretty girl like you doin' in a place like this?"

Annora went dead white while Ed stared in shock at the drunken soldier. It took a few minutes for the Fullmetal Alchemist to get over his surprise before his expression turned into one of homicidal fury. Annora flinched as Ed completely and utterly lost his temper as he lunged for both of the hapless soldiers.

"**WHAT THE HELL KIND OF SICKOS ARE YOU FOR WANTING TO GET SOME ACTION WITH A COUPLE OF MINORS?! NOT TO MENTION THAT I AM ****NOT** **A DAMN GIRL!!! YOU PERVERTS ARE SO DAMN DRUNK THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BUTCHER AND A WHORE!!**"

Annora covered her eyes as Ed grabbed both of the men by the front of their shirts and pulled them down to his eye level before he proceeded to beat the ever-living crap out of them. (On a later note, when both of the men came to the next morning, they had raging hangovers and were told by their friends that they had apparently mistaken the Fullmetal Alchemist for a girl and had asked him to share their bed for the night. Both men were later found in the bathroom with their guns attempting to commit suicide.)

When the sounds of two drunk idiots getting the tar knocked out of the stopped, Annora slowly lowered her hand and got a two second glimpse of the scene that lay in front of her, both of the soldiers unconscious and laying in a bruised heap, before Ed grabbed her hand and dragged her away. The sixteen-year old's eyes widened and a faint blush made its way across her cheeks as she tried not to trip while trying to keep up with Ed's furious pace as he pulled her along towards the door leading out of the cafeteria.

"Umm… Ed, where are we going?" Annora asked hesitantly.

"We're leaving, I've had enough of this political bullshit!" he growled before he let out a curse when he caught sight of Mustang standing right by the door. The man looked over at both of the teens and gave a knowing smirk.

"Leaving so soon, Fullmetal?" he asked. Ed glowered at him in response.

"Yes, we are. I think we've both had enough fun for tonight," he grumbled acidly as he glared daggers at Mustang. The Colonel's grin, if at all possible, got even wider.

"But you can't leave; you haven't danced with your girlfriend yet, and you **have** to do that before you go."

Annora's eyes widened, and her blush got even brighter while Ed stared slack-jawed at Mustang.

"But-"

"No buts, Fullmetal. Now go dance, and that's an order."

Ed muttered several obscenities under his breath as he turned around and went out onto the dance floor, pulling Annora behind him. The girl looked over at Edward, who was scowling as he maneuvered the two of them into a dancing position as a new song began to play.

_I still hear your voice, when you sleep next to me.  
I still feel your touch in my dreams.  
Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why  
Without you it's hard to survive.  
_

"You don't have to do this you know," she pointed out softly. Ed's eyebrows shot in surprise as he looked at Annora, and for the first time **really** saw what she was. She wasn't just some girl that Mustang had dumped on him and Al, much less the girl that managed to continuously get on his nerves anymore. She was his friend, if you really wanted to put it that way. Ed felt his face grow hot and tried desperately to calm down.

'_Damn it, why am I getting so embarrassed?'_

_'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
Need you by my side.  
_

Annora looked at him curiously, and a small spark of worry flickered in her eyes.

"Are you okay? You look a little flustered."

Ed immediately shoved all of the thoughts that had been whirling around inside his head out of his mind and shook his head.

"I'm fine, so stop worrying so much."

_'Cause everytime we touch, I feel this static.  
And everytime we kiss, I reach for the sky.  
Can't you hear my heart beat so...  
I can't let you go.  
Want you in my life._

Annora raised an eyebrow as she gave Ed an incredulous look.

"Who said that I was worried? I was just asking if you were okay."

"Yeah right. You're just saying that 'cause you're a worrywart."

Ed immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing and mentally kicked himself for his own stupidity while anger flashed deep within Annora's eyes.

'_That… that jerk!'_ she growled silently as she continued to dance. _'I was about to suggest that we duck out of here the first chance that we got, but I guess that he doesn't want my help! Oh, is he going to pay for that!'_

_Your arms are my castle; your heart is my sky.  
They wipe away tears that I cry.  
The good and the bad times, we've been through them all._

You make me rise when I fall.

Ed knew he was in trouble when he felt the heel of Annora's shoe hit his left foot. When he looked at the girl, she had a look of concentration on her face, almost as if she were palnning something. The teenager figured out what she was doing really quick when she stepped on his left foot again. A small sweatdrop ran down the back of Ed's head as Annora frowned before she dug the heel of her shoe into his left foot, this time giving out a faint 'clunk'.

'_I wonder when she's going to figure out that that's not my real foot,'_ Ed wondered as Annora continued to angrily step on his foot.

_'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
Need you by my side.  
_

He tried not to laugh, but he couldn't help it; a slightly strangled snicker escaped his throat. Annora's eyes narrowed dangerously and she oppened her mouth to say something just as Armstrong, who looked more than a little drunk, went up to the stage and stole the microphone from the DJ.

_'Cause everytime we touch, I feel this static.  
And everytime we kiss, I reach for the sky.  
Can't you hear my heart beat so...  
I can't let you go.  
Want you in my life.  
_

"Thank you all for attending this wonderful Christmas party," he declared with tears pouring from his eyes as several sparkles winked around him. "And now as a fitting Christmas gift for all of you that so thoughtfully attended, I will now show you the skilled artistry that has been passed down through the Armstrong family for generations!"

With that comment, Major Armstrong ripped off his shirt and tie that he had been wearing and flexed his massive muscles. Annora stared at the man in horror, her eyes practically bugging out of their sockets while Ed made a face and covered his own offended irises with his right hand. Not surprisingly, everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and were staring up at the stage with an expression of horror and disgust. Annora finally snapped out of her stupor and looked away from the stage.

_'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
Need you by my side._

"Excuse me for a moment; I'm going to go gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon and wash them in acid," she muttered as she headed for the door leading to the main area of Central H.Q. Ed went after her, placing a hand on her shoulder as the two teens left the cafeteria unnoticed.

"I'm with you," he agreed as the sixteen-year old looked at him with wide chocolate eyes.

Any further conversation was halted by Alphonse's arrival as he came out of the cafeteria shuddering violently.

"Brother, I'm scarred for life," he whimpered. Annora patted him on the back reassuringly while Ed muttered something under his breath about super-gluing a shirt onto Armstrong to keep him from scaring people. The three teens walked out of the building into the entryway and stopped dead when they saw that it was snowing heavily.

Ed looked over at Annora, who didn't have a jacket and was already starting to shiver. Without a word, he removed his suit jacket and handed it to the girl, who looked surprised for a few moments before she accepted it.

"Thank you," she whispered softly as she pulled it on. Ed's eyes widened marginally before he nodded.

"You're welcome."

Al looked out at the thickly falling snow and back at his brother and Annora before he pointed something out.

"It looks like its getting worse. We'd better hurry home before this snowstorm turns into a blizzard."

Ed scowled as he took Annora's hand in his and led her out into the storm with Al following them. The teenage alchemist didn't notice the intense blush that flamed across Annora's face as she struggled to stay upright while trudging through already eight-inch deep snow.

(AN: Snow and heels, not a good combination. Trust me, I know.)

It took a while, but they finally reached home and got in out of the cold. Annora and Ed both flopped down on the couch, utterly exhausted and shivering for a few minutes before Annora took off the coat that Ed had lent her and handed it back to him.

"Thank you, it really helped out a lot," she murmured as she stood up and headed upstairs. Ed stared in the direction that the girl had gone in for several minutes before he shook himself out of his daze and stood up.

"What the hell am I doing?" he asked as he headed up to the room that he and Al shared. "Not to mention why am I even **thinking** stuff like that?"

"Oh, Brother's got a crush," Alphonse teased as he poked his head out of their bedroom. Ed turned bright red and he lunged after Al with murder in his eyes.

"I do not!"

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't!"

"Just admit it Brother, you'll feel better that way."

"AL, SHUT UP!"

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Woohoo! Chapter six is now up! Yeah, I know I'm acting like a hyper preschooler, but I'm happy. Okay, I hope that you all liked this chapter and aren't ready to go after me for leaving you hanging. Chapter seven is in the process of being written and typed up right now, so hopefully it'll be done in about a week or so. I also will have a fan art put up on Deviant Art of the dancing scene with a link on my Fan Fiction profile.

Disclaimer: Annora, Ethan, and Katie © me, and Ed, Al, Mustang, Hawkeye and anyone else © Himoru Arakawa.

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**Reviews**

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Mew Sarin Alchemist: I'm glad that my last chapter cheered you up. Wahi, an interesting nickname… I like it.

Rikdo Osaka: The phone calls are going to be kept at a minimum due to the fact that Annora blocked Katie, at least temporarily, but there will be funny Webcam incidents coming up in the near future!

Kamisori Kaze no Renkinjutsu: You're thirteen and you swear as much as Annora? Oh God, I've corrupted the minds of children!

**Ed:** Calm down, it's not that big of a deal. (Wandering Hitokiri glares at him) Okay, then again, maybe it is.

Umm, yeah… I used the Mustang comment that you gave me.

Siacatmesecat: It seems that a lot of people liked the hobbit scene, and I'm glad that it was funny. Yeah, the smoke alarm isn't a cooking timer. I can actually cook, and I'm pretty good at it too. I know how to make Oden!

**Ed:** Show off.

richard9311: I'll be doing a fan art of that scene sometime in the near future, so I hope that it'll turn out funny.

Lady of Summer Haze: There will be more trash can puns in the future, I can assure you that. My reasoning behind Envy's getting thrown in a dumpster is the fact that I sincerely believe that he belongs there.

Liah Cauthon: There's Grammar Whores **and** Nazis?! Okay, I'm officially scared now. Hmm… I like the penname that you're using right now, but German Pryde sounds cool too.

Lanfear1: Ah, yet another Mary-Sue hater. I'm not alone. I try very hard to keep Annora out of the Mary-Sue personality section, and I'm glad that so far I've succeeded. As I've been told by one of my reviewers, Mary-Sue's make good transmutation fodder, not to mention they annoy the hell out of Envy.

**Envy:** So that's why all these screaming sissy fangirls have been pouncing all over me?! You &!$#, I'm going to kill you!!

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Ha, I'd like to see you try, you stupid fag!

**Envy:** I'm not a fag!

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Says you. Anyways, haven't you heard the saying 'Stupid fagot, dicks are for chicks,'?

**Envy:** I'll kill you!!

Lightning Dragon Alchemist: Don't worry about it; I've done the same thing before. Inspiration is always good, even if it comes five minutes before the bus does. I know what you mean with what happened with Annora and meeting the walking tin can.

**Al:** Tin can?

**Wandering Hitokiri:** I'm not talking about you! (Panic)

Anyways, I know that if I had been the one there instead of Annora, I really would have freaked out.

ImaginaryPoptart: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked it.

Dragon Rider Katari: Sure will.

caspercat22: Yeah, sometimes I think that happiness is having a new chapter put up on your favorite fan fic.

AdventureAddict: Yeah, it is a little difficult to keep Ed in character sometimes, but its well worth the effort. I had one of my friends say that it's easy to imagine Annora as part of the actual FMA anime series, so I think that that's a good thing.

Part of the milk rant came from a fic by Fullmetal Archer, and the song is 'Everytime We Touch' by Cascada.


	7. Chapter Seven: Unexpected Sights

**Chapter Seven:**

**Unexpected (yet appreciated) Sights**

Two days after the Christmas party at Central, Annora was stuck home alone while Ed and Al were out after getting a call from Mustang about someone named 'Scar' being on the loose again. Ed had run out the door while giving Annora implicit instructions on not leaving the house until they came back. Needless to say, that left the teenager sitting at home bored out of her ever loving mind until the two brothers came back.

"This is so stupid," Annora muttered as she stared unseeingly at the text in the alchemy book that lay open in front of her. "Who the hell is the Scar guy anyway, and not to mention why is he running around using the name of an old Disney character as his own?"

The girl let out an aggravated groan as she shut the book and set it down on the table before she stood up and went upstairs to her room where she gathered up her laptop and MP3 player and went back downstairs. Annora grinned as she set up her computer and turned it on; it had been a while since she had gone online, not to mention answer her e-mails. Surprisingly, she found that she only had ten after she logged in to her account. Four of them were from other people at school, two were junk mail advertisements from other websites, and the rest were from Katie. Annora opened up the first one from Katie labeled 'LOL' and stared at the screen in shock for several seconds before she burst out laughing hysterically.

There on her screen in full color, complete with his official title and rank, was a picture of Colonel Roy Mustang, the legendary Flame Alchemist, wearing a miniskirt. Annora laughed so hard that she cried before she fell over and lay on the floor, holding her ribs and gasping for breath.

"Oh god," she gasped out as she sat up and wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. "That's just wrong. Funny, but wrong."

Below the picture was the caption 'thought that you'd think this was funny'. Annora shook her head and chuckled before an evil idea came to her. An unholy smirk played across the girl's face as she picked up her laptop and went out back, where a large fir tree had fallen down from the weight from the weight of the ice and snow that clung to it. It was right next to the fallen tree that Annora set her laptop down on the snow and busied herself with sketching two transmutation circles on the snow, one next to her computer and the other around the tree. Once she had finished, the teen placed her hands down on the circle and used alchemy to create a printer.

An evil laugh almost bubbled from her throat, but the sixteen-year old stopped herself before she could get herself going. Once she had calmed down, Annora transmuted the fallen tree into a massive stack of paper, some of which she took and inserted into the printer before she hooked up the printer to her computer. She then clicked on the picture on the e-mail and hit 'Print'. When the icon asking for how many copies she wanted popped up, she typed in '200'. It took a while, but Annora was able to print all 200 copies of the picture of Mustang without incident. After almost dying from holding back her laughter, Annora noticed that she still had several sheets of paper left. The girl looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments before an idea came to her. The first thing that she did was pull up a Word document and type up a dictionary entry. It consisted of making fun of Colonel Mustang, even more than the picture did. This is what it said.

**Mustang: **\mus-tang\

mustanged; mustanging _(vb)_

**1: **to procrastinate to the point of no return.

**2: **to shirk like there's no tomorrow.

**3: **to scream at your subordinates to stall for time. (Call in fake bomb threats, run amuck, ect.)

**4:** to have an insatiable urge to burn paperwork

Once Annora was satisfied with her work, she used alchemy to make the printer wider and fused the remaining sheets together into one big sheet, which she then fed into the printer and hit the 'print' button. After she had done this, she was left with a good-sized poster of Mustang wearing a miniskirt. Annora couldn't help it; she burst out laughing once again and didn't stop until she was on the verge of tears.

"This is going to be great! Although if I get caught, I'll be screwed on so many levels that it won't even be funny, but it'll be worth it." Annora grinned impishly as she gathered up the flyers and the poster that she had created and took them upstairs to her room. She then went out into the backyard and used alchemy to get rid of the printer before she picked up her laptop and brought it inside. The rest of the time waiting for Ed and Al to come back was spent making dinner and dinking around on her computer (aka watching part of Shrek).

By the time that the two brothers came home about three hours later, dinner was already made and sitting in the oven on 'warm', while Annora was sound asleep in her room. Ed, who was completely covered in blood, sewer muck, and some particularly foul-smelling crap that he had landed in when Scar had thrown him bodily into a dumpster behind a restaurant, was not happy.

"I'm going to go take a shower and change," he announced as he headed straight up to the bathroom without even bothering to grab a change of clean clothes. Al stared up at the stairs before he shook his head and followed his brother's very smelly path of destruction, which lead to the small putrid mound of filthy clothes piled up outside the bathroom door. Needless to say, Al was **extremely** glad that he couldn't smell anything at that point as he gathered up Ed's reeking clothing and took it downstairs, where he dumped it out on the back porch so it wouldn't stink up the house.

"Sheesh Ed, you're so sloppy," he muttered as he went to wash his hands to rid them of the foul-smelling sludge that clung to them, leaving his brother to get cleaned up.

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Annora sat up and blinked drowsily before she let out a jaw-cracking yawn and looked over at her alarm clock. She stared at it stupidly for a few moments before it dawned upon her that it was after six o'clock in the evening. The girl stood up and went out into the hallway, listening intently for anything that might indicate that Ed and Al were home. When she heard none of the usual sounds of chaos that announced the Elric brother's presence, Annora headed back into her room, grabbed a change of clean clothes, and went into the bathroom. She had just finished getting undressed and had wrapped a towel around herself when Ed pushed the shower curtain open and emerged from the tub dripping wet with a towel wrapped around his waist.

(AN: Alright all you fangirls, you can stop drooling. This isn't a peep show. -.-;)

Both teenagers froze when they caught sight of each other, their eyes widening to about the size of dinner plates as a bright scarlet blush flamed across their cheeks.

'_Oh my GOD! This is __**NOT**__ happening, this is a dream! It has to be!'_ Annora thought panickedly as she stared at the teenage boy in an almost terrified state of shock. Ed on the other hand, was fighting an uphill battle against his hormones, and then mentally smacking himself for even thinking something like that. It was at about that point that Annora noticed that had a prosthetic arm and leg, both of them made out of metal.

'_Why haven't I ever noticed that before?'_ she wondered as she stared straight ahead at the boy, who also in a similar state of shock, although that didn't prevent him from unconsciously imagining what Annora's towel covered.

'_What the hell?! Why am I even thinking like that?! That's how the bastard colonel's mind works, not mine!!'_ Ed mentally raged as he attempted to shove the thoughts out of his mind. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work.

Annora found herself desperately wishing that she could turn invisible, even though her gaze was still riveted to Ed. Despite his small stature, the teenage alchemist actually had a well-toned body that indicated that he worked out often. His golden hair was free of the braid that it was normally in, and clung to his back and face while water dripped from his bangs.

It was when Al came into the bathroom holding a fresh change of clothes for Edward that broke the stalemate. Annora dashed right past Ed and whipped the shower curtain shut, concealing herself from view, while Ed snatched his clothes from Al and ran into his room, slamming the door shut behind him. When Al tried to go into the room to ask Ed what had happened, he was rewarded for his pains by having a thick tome of alchemy thrown at his head.

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It took a while, but Annora was finally able to overcome her extreme embarrassment, and when she exited the bathroom fully dressed and her damp hair hanging limply behind her, she was silently repeating the phrase that had almost become a mantra for her in the shower.

'_I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything, I did __**not**__ see anything.'_

She continued along this line of thought as she went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Ed and Al were already sitting in a very uncomfortable silence. The moment Annora set eyes on the Fullmetal Alchemist, who also looked like he was having problems thinking straight, her mind backfired.

'_Oh God, I saw something.'_

It was at that point that a small dribble of blood trickled out of her nostril. Annora's eyes widened as she clapped a hand over her nose and ran back up the stairs to the bathroom. Ed didn't have time to say anything to Annora, seeing as the moment he saw her race back up the stairs, one single thought ran through his mind and blood gushed from his nose like a miniature waterfall, sending the boy flying backwards out of his seat.

(AN: Think like in the Naruto manga.)

"Brother… are you alright?" Al asked timidly. Ed didn't respond, sending the possessed suit of armor into a full-blown panic.

"Brother, don't die!"

By the time that Annora came downstairs with a piece of tissue stuffed up her nose to stop the bleeding, Ed was sitting up in a chair and was lucid. The only sign of his earlier predicament were the bloody wads of tissue stuffed up both of his nostrils. Annora, whose nosebleed had already stopped, went over to the trashcan and disposed of the bloody tissue. She then washed her hands before pulling out the two plates of food that she had put in the oven earlier to keep warm and handed one to Ed. The boy looked surprised as he accepted the plate and watched Annora take hers and sit down across the table from him. He had half expected to have her try and kill him for what happened earlier, so it was a little surprising that the girl didn't yell at him. There was a heavy silence at the table as the two teens ate and Al polished his helmet. After a while, Annora glanced over at Ed and spoke.

"So, how long have you had prosthetic limbs?"

Ed looked surprised for a few moments as he stared the girl before he answered. Whatever questions he had been expecting, this wasn't one of them.

"Almost five years now," he muttered as he shoveled a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. Annora's expression changed from neutral curiosity to a soft apologetic look.

"Is it connected to how Al lost his original body?" she asked quietly. Edward stopped dead for a few seconds, starring at the girl sitting across from him in a stunned silence that lasted for well over a minute.

Ed finally let out a sigh as he set his fork down and a pained look entered his eyes.

"How much do you know?"

"Well… Al told me that there was an accident when you guys were younger that resulted in him losing his body and that you bound his soul to the suit of armor," Annora admitted. Al, who had finished polishing his helmet, put it back on and nodded in agreement.

"It's true, Brother. I told her that not too long after she came here."

Ed nodded as he let out a sigh before he reached up and began to massage the bridge of his nose.

"When Al and I were kids, our father left our mother. I was barely even four the last time we saw him, when the bastard walked out on our mom, and we haven't seen him since then. But when I was ten and Al was nine, our mother died from some illness that she had apparently had for a long time. And that… that **bastard** didn't even bother to show up for her funeral!" Ed paused for a moment as he allowed Annora to digest what he had told her, as well as for him to regain control of his temper before he continued his narrative.

"Our mom was all we had, and we couldn't imagine life without her, so we decided to use alchemy to bring her back to life." Ed looked up and locked eyes with Annora. "Do you know why human transmutation is alchemy's biggest taboo?"

"No, not really," she admitted nervously. She wasn't sure that she liked where this conversation was going. "Although it's also an idea that I'm not even remotely attracted to either."

"Human transmutation, or the creating of human life using alchemy is absolutely forbidden because of the fact that it defies the laws of Equivalent Exchange, and it has disastrous results, not to mention that there is not even one example of there ever being a successful outcome. Needless to say, the transmutation of our mother was a failure. I lost my left leg, and Al lost his whole body in the rebound. After that, I sacrificed my right arm to get his soul back and bind it to the suit of armor."

A look of shocked disbelief flickered across Annora's face as she stared at the two boys in front of her before she gave a soft sigh.

"So that's why you're looking for the Philosopher's Stone, isn't it?" she asked quietly. Ed nodded as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"If you don't like the idea of what we're trying to do, you don't have to get involved. We'll try and-" he began, only to have Annora cut him off.

"Don't be stupid!" she shot back, her chocolate eyes flaring with a determined fire. "Of course I'll help you!"

Ed looked up and blinked in surprise. "What? But why?"

"That's what friends are for, stupid," Annora replied with a grin. "I'd have to be a cold-hearted hag **not** to help you. Besides, I totally understand why you'd risk your life for Al. I know that if something happened to Ethan, no matter how much I complain about him, I'd lose it completely."

Al didn't seem surprised at Annora's statement, while Ed almost fell over in shock. He definitely wasn't prepared to have someone, especially a girl that he had barely known for a month and had seen almost naked, to tell him that she had absolutely no problem in helping him look for the Stone.

Annora recognized the confused expression on Ed's face and gave a crooked grin as she chuckled.

"So, I guess that I surprised you yet again, huh?"

"No, you think?"

Al started to laugh at his brother's comment, while Ed looked over at him with a frustrated expression on his face.

"What's so funny?"

The words 'your face', 'shower', and 'didn't know you were that big of a pervert' were discernable as Al broke into yet another laughing fit. Annora and Ed both flushed an interesting beet color before they looked at each other and raised their eyebrows in question. Out of nowhere, an evil smirk crossed the girl's face.

"If you hold him down, I'll go get the duct tape," she pointed out. Ed looked puzzled for a moment before he got what the girl was hinting at. An evil smirk of his own crossed the alchemist's face

"Do you have enough?"

"That depends on what you want to do. If you want to truss him up and hang him upside down from a light pole, then yes, I have enough."

Ed began to snicker evilly while Annora disappeared upstairs, presumably to get the large roll of duct tape that she always carried around in her backpack. Al stopped laughing suddenly when he heard the unmistakable 'rip' sound echo ominously behind him, and turned around to see Annora removing a length of duct tape from the roll with a mischievous glint in her eyes while Ed stood next to her with a knowing smirk etched onto his face.

It took over an hour for the two teens to catch Al, and much to their dismay, he was far too heavy to hang from a light pole.

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Annora felt like she had slammed three Monsters in a row as she, Ed, and Al walked up to Central H.Q., she was so wired; although, it was the adrenaline, and not caffeine, surging through her veins that was making her twitchy. Ed looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What's up with you?"

Annora gave a slightly nervous grin as she shifted one of the shoulder straps on her backpack into a more comfortable position.

"I was wondering if we're going to get in trouble for ditching the Christmas party early a few days ago. Somehow, I don't think that Colonel Fathead mentioned it to you yesterday due to the fact that he sounded really urgent over the phone."

Ed made a rude noise in the back of his throat as he looked back ahead. Before further words could be exchanged, a shout rang out.

"Edward and Alphonse Elric, I see that you have acquired a new traveling companion!"

All three teenagers turned around to see Major Armstrong running towards them with several eye-blindingly pink sparkles floating around his head. Annora was the first one to realize the immediate danger that they were all in.

"Aw jeez!" she yelped as she took off like the hounds of Hades were after her. "He's after us! Run for it!!"

Surprisingly, Al was the one who ran the fastest, with Ed following close behind. Annora unfortunately was not as fast as them, and soon fell several yards behind, although the mere thought of seeing Armstrong without his shirt on again was more than enough motivation for her to put on an extra burst of speed.

Ed and Al had already vanished into the military building and were probably all the way on the other side by the time that Annora burst through the heavy wooden doors, barely twenty yards ahead of Armstrong. The sixteen-year old let out a startled yelp as an armored hand suddenly shot out of a closet and yanked her inside before the door was slammed shut only moments before Major Armstrong entered the building.

"Mmmph!" Annora protested as she attempted to bite down on the hand that was covering her mouth.

"Shut up!" Ed hissed urgently from somewhere next to her, although Annora couldn't see him in the pitch-black interior of the closet. "He'll hear you, and then we'll really be in trouble!"

All three teens, who were cramped together inside the tiny hall closet, broke into a cold sweat when they heard Major Armstrong stop outside the door and begin talking to himself.

"Hmm… how odd, I could have sworn that they were in here. Perhaps they're hiding somewhere nearby."

Annora stared at the door in front of her in almost absolute terror before she whispered a single word hoarsely.

"Shit."

"Be quiet!" Ed growled, his eyes flashing angrily. "If you keep talking, he'll find us, and when that happens, we're screwed!"

"Then why don't you stop lecturing me, and try to get us out of here, dummy!" Annora hissed. Ed glared at her, not that he could see her or anything, but he had a pretty good idea where her face was, seeing as she was jammed right next to him in a corner.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" he responded sarcastically. "The door's the only way out of here, and the Major's standing right in front of it! I may be an alchemist, but I'm not a freaking magician!"

"Then why don't you try the back wall, stupid?"

Ed thought about that suggestion for a moment before mumbling something under his breath about how it couldn't work, to which Alphonse interjected.

"Brother, Annora, is this really the time for you two to be arguing?" he muttered under his breath. Ed shot his younger brother a scathing glare before he clapped his hands together and placed them on the back wall, forming a door into the room behind them. Without warning, the newly created door swung outward, spilling all three teenagers into the room in a giant dog-pile. Ed managed to just touch the corner of the door and transmute it back into a solid wall before Armstrong opened the closet door. It was only then that very familiar voice stated in a smug tone.

"Fullmetal, why is it that you can't just use the door like everyone else?"

Annora looked up from her spot at the bottom of the dog-pile and groaned when she saw Mustang sitting at his desk, looking at the tangled pile of teens with one dark eyebrow raised and the expression of barest curiosity flickering across his face.

"Crap. Out of all the rooms we could have fallen in to, it just **had** to be his office," she muttered. "I **know** that the irony gods are just laughing their asses off over this."

This statement caught the man's interest and he gave Annora a thoughtful look. Irony gods; perhaps he should look into those. After all, they might be behind the reason why his last date ended with the woman's brother running after him with a loaded shotgun.

(AN: Everyone looks over at the author, who just smiles innocently. Oh come on, can't I mess with the pervert's head once and a while? )

Annora squirmed feebly underneath the combined weight of Edward and Alphonse. Al, who was still a little stunned, tried to get off of Ed, who was pinned down underneath his armored bulk. A knowing smirk crossed Mustang's face as he decided to sit back in his chair and enjoy the show.

Ed let out a strangled yell as Al accidentally shifted his weight fully onto the older boy's back, to which much angry cursing ensued, not only from Ed, but Annora as well. After a few minutes, Mustang realized that the teens wouldn't be able to untangle themselves without help. As amusing as it was to watch Edward threaten Al with severe bodily harm, as well as burying him alive in the desert, it got a little old real quick. The man stood up and helped Alphonse to his feet, much to the relief of those underneath him. Ed began to squirm about as he tried to shift into a position that would allow him untangle himself, and Annora let out a pained gasp as his automail arm dug into her side.

"Ed…" she managed to grit out through clenched teeth, her brown eyes narrowed dangerously. "Get your elbow out of my ribs before I decide to break something."

"Sorry," the boy apologized as he scrambled to get off of her. Annora sat up and winced as she rubbed her bruised ribs.

"Oww…" she hissed. "That's not something that I want to repeat anytime soon."

Mustang looked between the two teens before his usual sardonic smirk crossed his face.

"Fullmetal, you do realize that it would be far more appropriate for you to get a room than to do something like that here."

It took a few moments before Ed caught the hidden meaning behind Mustang's comment, and when he did, he went ballistic.

"WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT, COLONEL BASTARD?! WHY WOULD I EVEN **WANT** TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! DO US ALL A FAVOR AND PULL YOUR DAMN MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!!"

Annora, who had been gritting her teeth and silently vowing vengeance against the arrogant Flame Alchemist, looked over at the furious boy and sweatdropped.

"If you don't think about stuff like that, then why are you getting so upset?"

"…"

"Why do I not find your silence reassuring?"

"…"

Mustang rolled his eyes as he watched the conversation in front of him take place before he went over and made shooing motions with his hands.

"Alright you three, playtime's over," he stated as he started pushing Ed, Al, and Annora towards the office door. "I have work to do, and I don't have the time to play around with a stunted midget and his-"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY BUG THAT ESCAPES THE WRATH OF A SHOE BECAUSE HE'S SO SMALL THAT HE FITS IN THE GROOVES AND CAN'T GET SQUASHED?!" Ed shrieked. Annora and Al were both forced to grab a hold of him and drag the furious alchemist out of Mustang's office before he could inflict serious bodily harm on the man.

Once they had exited the office and had managed to get a reasonable distance away from it, Annora looked over at Ed, who still had an expression of homicidal fury on his face.

"Can we let you go now, or do I have to run around and ask people for tranquilizer darts?" she asked seriously. Ed flinched at the mention of needles before he nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm not going to try to kill the bastard Colonel." _'At least not right now,'_ he mentally amended. Annora raised an eyebrow at his statement, and for one horrifying moment, Ed though that she had read his mind, before she shrugged.

"Okay, I'll meet you two back at the research room then."

"Why?"

Annora glanced back at Ed and gave him a skeptical look.

"I need to go use the facilities. Like I said, I'll meet you guys back at the research room."

Golden eyes grew wide with understanding as Ed watched Annora turn around and walk away. The teenage alchemist knew better than to press the girl for answers; he might have had the emotional sensitivity of a rock, and he may have been many things, but suicidal wasn't one of them.

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Annora smirked as she placed the last of the flyers in the mailbox of all the officers. In Mustang's however, she had placed the dictionary entry that she had typed up the night before instead of the color flyer featuring the Flame Alchemist wearing a miniskirt. The teenager then snuck down the hall into the main entrance before she pulled out a roll of duct tape and the poster out of her backpack. Glancing around her nervously to make sure that no one was nearby, Annora hurriedly taped up the color poster without wasting a single moment and ran like hell in the direction of the girl's restroom before someone came along and saw her. Once inside, she removed all of the remaining flyers from her backpack and flushed the incriminating evidence down the toilet.

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When Annora entered the research room and shut the door behind her, Ed only looked up from the book he was skimming through before he returned to his note-taking. The sixteen-year old let out a mental sigh of relief as she slid into her seat; she really didn't want to answer any questions that Ed or Al might have had if she had given any reason other than using the restroom to explain her disappearance to the brothers. She sat down in a free wooden chair and unzipped her backpack, pulling out her usual sketchbook and drawing pencil case when her fingers brushed up against the smooth side of an aluminum can.

Annora frowned thoughtfully as she set her drawing pad down on the table and reached into her bag once again and pulled out a can of Monster™. Ed glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow in question when he saw the can and the writing on it.

"What's that?"

"It's a Monster. They're a kind of energy drink, although they're supposed to be really bad for you with all the caffeine and sugar in them," Annora explained before her expression brightened. "I completely forgot that this was in there."

Ed looked at the clearly non-intimidating can and gave a disbelieving snort. "Oh please, it doesn't look **that** dangerous."

"You wanna try it then?" Annora asked as she arched her eyebrows skeptically before she handed the can over to Ed. "You can't say that I didn't warn you though."

Ed made another disbelieving noise as he popped the tab, releasing a small burst of pressurized air before he slammed the entire contents of the 16 oz. can. Annora and Al both stared at him as he set the empty aluminum can down on the table and made a face.

"How can you even drink that crap?" he asked as he wiped him mouth on the sleeve of his red jacket. "It tastes horrible!"

"It's an acquired taste. Besides, if I remember correctly, you asked me the same question about milk," Annora pointed out as she tried to suppress a grin. Ed looked over at her and made a face.

"Ho ho, very funny. Hah ha, it is to laugh," he muttered sarcastically. "Anyway, that shit tastes even worse than milk!"

"Well, that's a first," Annora quipped as she looked across the table at the boy. "I didn't think that it was possible for you to say that anything tasted worse than milk. Although, if you think that milk tastes bad, you should try soymilk. That stuff **really** tastes like shit."

Ed just rolled his eyes in response as he went back to his note taking, and all was silent for about five minutes before the teenage alchemist began to fidget in his seat. Annora looked up from the sketch that she was working on and gave her friend an odd look.

"Ed, what the heck are you doing?" she asked warily. The teenage boy looked up at her, and Annora felt a cold tingle of dread go down her spine as all rationality was replaced by the wild look that entered the alchemist's eyes. The sixteen-year old's gaze darted over to the now-empty Monster™ can that still lay on the table before her eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh **shit**," she whispered fearfully as the human volcano that is Edward Elric erupted.

"WHO'REYOUCALLINARUNTYLITTLEBEANSPROUTTHATNEEDSAFUCKINGSTEPLADDERTOREACHANYTHING?!"

(Translation: Who're you callin' a runty little bean sprout that needs a fucking stepladder to reach anything?!)

"Uh, Al?" Annora whispered as she stared at the spazzing blonde in front of her. "Run."

Both teens immediately bolted out of their seats and ran for the door, which Annora kicked open, before they skidded out into the hallway with the wall opposite to the door before their feet regained traction and they shot off away from Ed, who was after them.

"'Scuse us! Sorry, out of the way!" Annora yelped as she and Al dodged startled office workers. "Warning: Psychotic short blond creature on the loose!"

One person dropped a stack of papers in surprise, sending paperwork, ironically, most of it destined for Mustang's office, flying everywhere. It was in this cloud of floating papers that Annora practically ran smack-dab into Havoc, her momentum knocking them both down to the floor with a resounding 'thud'.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologized as she scrambled off the older man. "I wasn't-"

"I'm alright; no harm done," Havoc admitted as he stood up and brushed himself off. "So, where's the fire?"

It was at that moment that Ed caught up to them and lunged for Annora, who was still sitting on the floor. Fortunately for her, Al grabbed her by the back of her shirt and yanked her out of the way, and Ed crashed to the ground. Havoc stared at the fallen alchemist in astonishment while Al and Annora took advantage of Ed's temporarily stunned state.

"Al, sit on him, quick!" Annora ordered as she frantically fumbled to get the roll of duct tape out the pocket of her jeans. Fortunately, Al's armored bulk easily restrained Ed with his caffeine-induced strength, and the sixteen-year old was able to truss up the struggling teen without any injury.

"What's up with him?" Havoc asked uneasily. Annora looked up at him as she stepped back from the struggling alchemist, who was now spewing a long list of profanities.

"Try that he just consumed the caffeine equivalent of about twelve cups of coffee, add about a cup of sugar to that, and you'll be roughly in the ballpark as to what kind of thing he drank," she pointed out as she watched Al threaten to sit on Ed again. Havoc gave a low whistle of astonishment just as Ed stopped struggling and blinked owlishly.

"Okay, what the hell just happened?"

Annora, Alphonse, and Havoc all stared at him in absolute disbelief before Al ventured timidly.

"Brother, don't you remember?"

"Remember what? And why the hell am I all tied up?"

Annora sweatdropped as she knelt down by Ed and began to unwrap the duct tape from around his wrists and ankles.

"Alright then, no more caffeine for you again, **ever**," she muttered as she removed the last of the duct tape and allowed Ed to stand up. "Caffeine is now a banned substance with you."

The teenager rubbed his wrist in order to restore circulation as he glared at her.

"Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that you're behind this?"

"Because you're paranoid."

"I am not!"

Annora raised an eyebrow as she gave Ed a skeptical look before she turned around and started walking back towards the room where they had been doing research in, when she fired a final parting shot over her shoulder.

"That's what **you** say."

Both Al and Havoc scooted away from Ed, who looked like he was about ready to commit murder as he made a low growling noise in the back of his throat. The teenager gritted his teeth as he slowly clenched and unclenched both of his hands.

"I am going to **kill** her!" he snarled as he stomped off in the same direction that Annora had gone.

Surprisingly, Ed didn't have far to go before he found Annora, who was standing in the middle of the hallway as though she had been rooted to the spot, staring in abject horror at something in front of her. The alchemist paid no attention to this as he stormed up to the girl and spun her around to face him.

"What is your problem?" he growled, only to be stopped by the fear that he saw in her eyes, although there was a slight mixture of mirth in there as well. "What's the matter?"

"We need to find someplace to hide," Annora pointed out faintly as she tried to look behind her. "Mustang's coming this way, and he looks **pissed**."

Ed stared at her for a few seconds before he yanked open the door to a hall closet next to where they were standing and pulled her inside with him, closing the door only moments before Mustang stormed past them, wearing his ignition-cloth gloves and holding two pieces of paper clenched tightly in his left hand. Ed waited for about a minute, and was about to open the door when he heard an angry roar.

"**WHO THE HELL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!"**

BOOM!!!

The sounds of people running for their lives, and finally, gunshots, came through the thin wooden door, and Ed couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on. He didn't expect for Annora to suddenly start snickering quietly, and he turned around to face the girl.

"What are you laughing at?" he demanded. Annora covered her mouth as she tried to stop giggling, and failed miserably. Finally, she was able to get herself under control and she faced Edward as she wiped tears of mirth out of the corners of her eyes.

"I played a bit of a joke on the Colonel," she explained as she tried not to grin. "From the sounds of things, I don't think that he appreciated my sense of humor."

Ed raised his eyebrows skeptically as he opened the closet door and headed back in the direction of the research room.

"Oh, and what did you do?"

"I passed out about 200 color flyers with a picture of him wearing a miniskirt on them in all of the military mailboxes."

Ed bit back peals of laughter as he entered the room and sat down with his hand over his mouth, trying not to die laughing.

"Then what was that whole thing in the front entryway about?"

"Umm… that was probably the life-size poster with the same picture on it that I put up."

This time, Ed absolutely lost it as he almost fell of his chair laughing his head off. Annora watched him in interest as she allowed herself to giggle a bit as well. Once the young alchemist finally calmed down, he fixed her with an intense look.

"You do realize that when the Colonel Bastard finds out that it was you, you're dead, right?" he asked seriously. Annora gave him a crooked grin as she picked up her navy sweater from the back of her chair.

"Oh, but it will so be worth it," she pointed out as she gestured to the t-shirt that she was wearing, which bore the statement 'I tried being good, but I got bored' on it. Ed just shook his head and laughed.

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Mustang's left eye twitched violently as Hawkeye escorted him back to his office with her gun drawn. Whoever had written that stupid mock dictionary entry and left it in his mailbox was going to die a horrible, agonizing death, and the person who had created the poster and flyers mocking him was going to meet the same fate as well. Already there were whispers floating around that he was a cross-dresser, or that he had offended the printer's daughter. The twenty-nine-year old gritted his teeth and ground them together audibly as he fought the urge to kill someone right then and there. Just as he came up to his office door, he caught sight of a small, handwritten note that was taped to his door. The man reached out and ripped it off before he read it.

There were only two lines on the note, and they illuminated with crystal clarity who was behind his current humiliation.

**Payback's a bitch, isn't it?**

**P.S. Consider this a belated Christmas gift from me, with interest.**

Mustang's eye began to twitch even more violently, and several veins began to throb all over his head. He was going to **incinerate** that wench when he got his hands on her.

"FULLMETAL!!!"

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Annora and Ed both looked over towards the door, and the former flinched when she realized what had probably just happened.

"Looks like he found the note," she muttered. Ed looked at her and raised his eyebrows in question.

"What note?"

"The note that I left on the door to Mustang's office."

"You left a note?!" Ed yelped in disbelief as he stared at Annora, who nodded and hurriedly yanked on her jacket just as Al came into the room.

"Brother, what did you do?" he asked as he watched Ed stuff his notes into the pocket of his red trench coat and Annora shove her sketchbook and pencils into her backpack.

"I didn't do anything!" he protested as he slid the window open. All three of the teens jumped about a foot in the air when another shout echoed all throughout Central command, this one considerably louder than the first.

"**FULLMETAL, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!**"

Annora and Ed both looked at each other and instantly came to an unspoken agreement; neither of them wanted to be there when the Colonel came into the room.

"Run," Annora stated simply, as though that was the answer to everything at the moment.

"After you," Edward muttered as he gestured almost mockingly in the direction of the window. Annora went out first, followed by Al, and Ed was the last one to leave the room, not even bothering to close the window as all three teens ran as though their lives depended upon it. They had just whipped around the first corner away from Central command when Mustang blew the door to the research room off its hinges with one snap of his fingers and walked in, the expression on his face thunderous. The dark-haired man looked around him before an almost unholy smirk made its way across his face. When he saw that girl the next time, she was going to regret the dangerous game that she had started.

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**Four hours later**

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Annora lay face-down on her bed with her head buried in her pillow, almost asleep, when her laptop began to vibrate on the wooden surface of her desk, instantly jerking her awake. The sixteen-year old stared stupidly at her computer for a few moments before it dawned upon her that someone was trying to reach her over her web cam.

"Alright already, I'm coming," she muttered as she picked up her laptop and flipped it open. She caught sight of the words '**Roy'sluvtoy** wishes to log on', but her sleep-fogged mind didn't register the meaning behind them until Katie's face popped up on her computer screen.

"Annora, Annora, Annora!" Katie yammered excitedly, her voice rising up into an uncomfortably high pitch as she bounced up and down in her seat. "I finally got a hold of you!"

"Katie?" Annora asked incredulously, her eyes wide as she stared at her friend before she blinked several times to see if she was hallucinating. "How did you-?"

"I used my computer, silly," Katie responded with a knowing grin on her face, her yellow-green eyes glinting impishly. "Why did you block my cell phone number the other day?"

"What?" Annora's eyebrows shot up into her hairline as she stared at her friend. "Katie, I didn't block your cell phone… well, at least not **yesterday**."

"Yeah you did! I know because I tried to call you right after you hung up on me and some lady with a pre-recorded voice told me that my call was blocked. Explain that one to me!"

Annora sweatdropped as she stared at the computer screen before she covered her face with her hands and muttered something under her breath.

"Lord, give me strength."

Katie arched an eyebrow as she looked at the other girl skeptically before she made a remark.

"The image that your web cam is giving me is funny," she whined. Annora removed her hands from her face and looked at Katie.

"And how is that?"

"It looks almost like you're in an anime."

Annora made a choking noise as she almost fell off her bed in shock before she managed to regain control of herself.

"Wha-what? What the hell do you mean by that?"

Katie grinned roguishly at her as she nonchalantly ran a hand through her shoulder-length black hair.

"I'm just messing with ya," she teased as she took off her glasses and began to clean them on the bottom of her shirt. "I know that your cam's probably acting up or something and that's why I'm getting the image that I am."

"Yeah… right," Annora agreed weakly, silently thanking every divine being that she could possibly think of for their timely intervention. Before either of the two girls could say anything, the doorbell downstairs rang.

"I got it!" Annora yelled as she picked the computer up off her lap and headed downstairs, where she deposited it on the coffee table before she went to answer the door. When she saw who was standing there in front of her, she almost slammed the door in Mustang's face.

"Just who I was hoping to see," the Flame Alchemist began with a satanic smirk on his face. Annora didn't give him a chance to finish as she gave her 'traditional' greeting to unwelcome people that came to her door.

"Go away, I don't want to buy any Girl Scout cookies," she retorted as she swiftly shut the door on Mustang, who stood there with a bemused expression, completely flabbergasted.

"Who was that?" Katie asked as Annora knelt down in front of the coffee table and spun the computer around to face her.

"That was E… umm, **Alex**'s boss. He's a real jackass, so I didn't even give him the chance to say anything."

"Wow, what'd he do to piss you off?" The other girl wondered. Annora let out an exasperated sigh as she massaged the bridge of her nose.

"It's a **long** story," she muttered just as an angry shout reverberated outside the apartment.

"FULLMETAL, IF YOU OR YOUR GIRLFRIEND DODN'T OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, I WILL REVOKE-"

"That bastard!" Annora hissed as she shot to her feet and ran for the door, skidding slightly on the polished hardwood floor beneath her stocking-clad feet. The moment her fingers wrapped around the doorknob, the door flew inward under the force of one incredibly angry State Alchemist.

"Why did you slam the door on me?!" Mustang growled as he glared at her. Annora looked at him steadily before she arched an eyebrow skeptically.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

The irate Colonel gave her a dirty look before he thrust a brown cardboard box into her hands.

"That's for you to open later," he muttered in response to the jaundiced look that she gave him. Annora rolled her eyes and was about to make a sarcastic comment when Katie asked from the living room.

"Annora, what's going on?"

The teen went an interesting shade of white as Mustang's gaze immediately went from her to the doorway into the room where her laptop was currently sitting.

"Who's that?" he demanded.

"My friend. I was talking to her before you came barging in here."

It was then that Edward called out from upstairs.

"What the hell is going on? Is the Colonel Bastard in here?!"

Annora looked up to see Ed staring down at her from the top of the stairs, and swore when Mustang headed for the living room.

"No!" she yelped as she managed to push her way in front of the man and cover up the camera lens with her hand before Mustang came into the room.

"What is that?" he growled as she placed herself between him and her laptop.

"Nothing that I'm going to let you touch!" she retorted hotly. Mustang assumed his best 'commanding officer' tone as he tried unsuccessfully to move the girl away from her computer.

"Let me see it!"

"Over my dead body, asshole!"

"After the stunt you pulled this afternoon, that can be arranged!"

"Annora, what's going on?" Katie asked in obvious confusion as she tried unsuccessfully to see what was going on at Annora's end. It was then that Ed came into the room and joined the scuffle between Annora and Mustang.

"What the hell are you trying to pull, Colonel Bastard?!"

"Nothing that concerns you, Fullmetal!"

"Both of you, get the hell off me!"

"Move, you bastard!"

"Why don't you show respect to your elders, you short brat!!"

With all the shouting and cursing going on, fortunately for Annora, Katie couldn't exactly understand what was going on because of it. Although that came to an end when both Ed and Mustang crashed into her and all three of them fell to the ground in a heap, with the Colonel on top.

There was a long silence after that, and Mustang found himself staring into the face of a teenage girl on the screen of Annora's laptop computer just in time to hear her squeal loudly.

"Roy-kun!!"

"What in the-?! Who the hell is that?!" the Flame Alchemist yelped as he scrambled off of Ed and Annora, who were both in various stages of agony. Annora looked over at Katie, who was doing some weird sort of happy dance in her seat on her end while hugging what looked suspiciously like a Mustang plushy, and winced. She had been hoping to avoid something like this.

"The Anti-Christ," she muttered dourly as she rubbed the back of her head where Ed had elbowed her. Ed stared at the computer screen and made a face.

"Why does she have pictures of the Colonel Bastard all over her wall?" he asked suspiciously, disgust evident in his voice. Annora shrugged in response.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her?"

Ed didn't notice her comment as he peered closely at the screen before he jerked back in horror.

"There's a picture of Envy there as well!" he yelped. "And one of me!"

"Hey, don't look at me!" Annora protested as she held her hands up in front of her. "I had **nothing** to do with any of that crap on Katie's wall. She's the one that obsesses over the pyromaniac over there!"

On the other hand, while Annora and Ed were talking, Katie had now gotten up out of her computer chair and was dancing around, babbling something about her wishes being answered. It was only when she grabbed a life-sized plushy of Roy Mustang and began to drool all over it that Annora killed the connection to her web cam, seeing as she, Ed, and Mustang were now thoroughly disturbed.

"Let us never speak of this again," she muttered whole-heartedly as the shell-shocked Flame Alchemist left the apartment without a word. Ed looked at her and made a face.

"Who the hell was that?!" he finally asked. Annora, who closed her laptop and was about to stand up, looked over at him.

"That was my friend Katie. As you saw, she's a little disturbed."

Ed just nodded as he numbly watched Annora head up the stairs. He silently prayed that if there was such a thing as God, that he would make sure that he **never** saw this 'Katie' person ever again.

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Okay, there's the end of chapter seven, and I hope that you all liked it. Sorry that it took so long, but I had a bit of writer's block, as well as my school schedule was completely nuts. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed; it means so much to me and it keeps me going.

**Announcements:**

First of all, I want to announce to everyone and anyone who wants to draw fan art for this story that I will be accepting drawings and posting them for 'What One May Never See' in the section on my profile. There will be a prize for the top three drawings that I get, and that prize will be:

**The appearance of a character that you create in the story at a later chapter.**

The only rules are that you give me a detailed description of what they look like, their personality, what they wear, ect.

To send the pictures to me, here's my e-mail: theshinsengumisshadow(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Sorry about the format, but that's the only way I can put it on Fan Fiction without it showing up as a giant blank space.

**Second thing:**

Here's just a little bit of an explanation as to what's going on for any of you that might be confused.

Annora is in the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' anime, not the manga. So I will be sticking as close to the anime as possible with this story. If you have any questions, just send me a PM.

Last of all, I have a couple of one-shots involving Ed and Annora. The first one takes place sometime in the middle of 'What One May Never See', but it's not a part of the main story line. It's called 'In Another's Shoes' and it involves body swapping. If you want me to post it before I finish 'What One May Never See', let me know when you review, that way I can put it up.

Thank you all so much for reading my story and for your patience in waiting for me to update.


	8. Chapter Eight: Unwanted Encounters

Chapter Eight:

**Chapter Eight:**

**Unwanted Encounters**

_Everything was dark. Annora looked around her curiously, her bare feet padding softly over the cold smooth ground as she kept walking through the dark corridors of wherever she was._

"_Where is everyone?" she murmured. Nobody answered her nervous question, so the teenager kept walking, every single hair along the back of her neck standing straight up. This place, wherever it was, gave her the creeps. After several minutes, a patch of golden light became visible up ahead, and Annora broke into a run, eager to get away from the dark, suppressing corridor and its unnatural silence. The moment she burst into the room where the golden light was coming from however, she immediately regretted it._

_There was nothing in the room, if it could be called that, but a single pair of massive stone double doors with strange carvings etched into their surface. Annora looked at the doors uneasily before she began to back away. Something wasn't right here and everything inside of her screamed for her to run away before it was too late. The sixteen-year old whirled around and sprinted towards the door that she had come through, only to have it vanish right in front of her eyes._

"_What… what the hell?" she hissed, now officially freaked out. This time, a low, chilling chuckle answered her, sending tremors down her spine. Annora glanced behind her, her fists tightly clenched, only to find no one there. The creepy chuckle echoed through the room once again._

"_Alright, who's there?!" Annora growled as she stood with her legs spread in a familiar fighting stance. "Show yourself before I decide to come after you and kick your ass!"_

_The invisible chuckler didn't respond this time, and Annora let out an aggravated sigh as she relaxed._

"_Coward," she muttered as she ran a hand through her bangs and turned around, only to find her older brother, Ethan, standing only a few yards behind her. Annora stared at him for several long moments before she rubbed her eyes to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. When her brother didn't disappear, she walked up to him slowly, her chocolate eyes wide._

"_Ethan?" she asked hesitantly. The twenty-year old nodded as he looked at her steadily with his hazel-green eyes, his hands shoved into the pockets of his denim blue jeans that he was wearing. Annora's brow furrowed in confusion as she looked quizzically at her older brother, a sense of something being not quite right nagging at the back of her mind. _

_Annora examined Ethan critically, from his messy, short sandy-blonde hair and the navy 'System of a Down' t-shirt he was wearing, to the black combat boots on his feet. Nothing about him seemed out of place to her, at least until she realized that she was still wearing the gray cotton drawstring Capri's and light blue t-shirt that were her pajamas. The teen frowned and rolled her eyes; her brother always did have an annoying habit of catching her in her pj's. The sixteen-year old shoved that thought out of her mind as she went up and hugged Ethan tightly, glad that for once she was around someone that knew her._

"_I've missed you so much!" she declared as Ethan returned the embrace. A knowing smile flickered around the older boy's lips as he tightened his grip on her._

"_I missed you too," he muttered. "Annora, I have something that I need to talk to you about."_

"_What is it?"_

"_You haven't paid your toll."_

"_Huh?" Annora looked up into her brother's eyes, confusion evident on her face. "What are you talking about?"_

_Ethan gave her an unholy smirk as he looked at her; an unknown expression shining in his eyes. "You haven't paid your toll yet, Annora Thomas. You have to give something up to us as payment. It's called Equivalent Exchange."_

_Realization dawned upon Annora as horror flooded through her._

"_You're not my brother!" she raged as she attempted to pull away from the imposter, but he grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her back towards him again._

"_You can't escape," he whispered sibilantly as he shed Ethan's form, turning into some large humanoid shaped black thing with violet eyes. Annora shrieked a stream of profanities at him as she tried to break its grip on her, but it was too strong. Panic surged through her veins as the Gate opened and swarms of long black tentacles streamed out and attached themselves to her, dragging her into the dark depths held within the monstrous stone doors as she struggled fiercely. _

"_No, let me go! Let me go!! Let go of me you bastards! LET ME GO!!"_

--

Ed was sound asleep and in the middle of a very nice dream involving Colonel Mustang being roasted on a spit when a piercing scream shook him awake. The Fullmetal Alchemist shot upright, and immediately fell out of his bed in a tangle of blankets with a loud curse. Al snapped out of his own sleep mode at the loud 'thump' that Ed created and stared at his older brother, who was currently lying face-down on the wooden floor with his sheets wrapped around him and swearing profusely.

"Brother, did you fall out of bed again?" he asked as he stood up and went over to help Ed get untangled from his 'sheets of doom'.

"No, I just decide to sleep on the floor," the sixteen-year old shot back sarcastically as he unwrapped a blanket from around his legs and threw it back onto his bed. Another panicked cry coming from the room across the hall rang out, shattering the nighttime silence, before both brothers looked at each other and said one word.

"Annora!"

Ed and Al immediately shot out into the hallway between their room and Annora's, where the older Elric burst into the room a good five feet ahead of his brother. Golden eyes scanned the dark room quickly for enemies, and when he found none, Ed looked at Annora, who still lay on her bed, only to find her squirming about under the covers wildly in the obvious grip of a nightmare, something that Ed was all too familiar with. The State Alchemist sat down on the edge of the girl's bed and looked down at her face as she muttered 'no' and 'let me go!' repeatedly.

"Brother, what's going on?" Al asked as he came up behind Edward and peered over his shoulder. A small frown made its way across Ed's face as he looked Annora, who was still tossing and turning.

"She's having a nightmare," he muttered as he reached out and grabbed the struggling girl firmly by the shoulders before he shook her gently. "Annora, wake up!"

"LET ME GO YOU BASTARDS!!"

SMACK!

Ed jerked backwards in shock before he rubbed his left cheek ruefully, golden eyes narrowed as he glared at Annora, who was now sitting up and breathing heavily.

"What the hell was that for?!" he growled angrily. Annora didn't answer him as she continued to stare ahead, and Al noticed something odd.

"Brother, look at her eyes," he pointed out. "I think she's still asleep."

Ed looked into the girl's eyes, and immediately saw that they were unfocused with a wild look shining within them. Just to be sure, he waved his right hand in front of Annora, and was rewarded with absolutely no reaction whatsoever.

"Damn it," he muttered before he reached out and grabbed Annora by the wrists to prevent her from slapping him again. What he didn't expect was for her to start thrashing about again, only more violently this time.

"Let me go, just let me go! You're not my brother! What have you done with him?! Let go of me!!"

Ed gritted his teeth as he released her hands and grabbed the sixteen-year old by the shoulders once more, pulling her close to him. He didn't want to get slapped again, but he really didn't have any other choice.

"Annora, wake up! It's just a dream!"

There was a sharp gasp from the teen as she left the realm of her dreams and was jerked back into reality. She sat there with Ed holding her shoulders firmly for several moments before her entire body began to shake violently and she buried her head in Ed's left shoulder, her hands clenching the front of his black t-shirt in a death grip. The teenage alchemist sat there in a stunned silence before he felt a strange dampness on his shoulder. It was then that he heard the strangled moan that emerged from Annora's throat, her thin frame shuddering not just from the memory of her dream, but from the sobs that wracked her body as well.

Needless to say, Ed was extremely glad that the room was dark at that moment because neither Annora nor Alphonse could see that he was blushing. After about a minute or so, Annora finally got herself under control and straightened up, wiping away the tears that still clung to her face with her right hand.

"So, care to tell us what the hell that was all about?" Ed asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and gave Annora an inquiring look. The teen ran her hand nervously through her bangs and sighed before she answered him.

"Whatever that stupid thing was, the next time I see it, I'm going to introduce it to a wonderful modern marvel known as C4," she muttered acidly, her brown eyes flashing with anger. "Let's see that bloody door and its damn octopus tentacles try and drag anyone in after it's been vaporized."

Ed froze at the description before he looked at Annora strangely.

"What do you mean by that?"

"In my dream, there was this huge set of stone doors with all these weird carvings on them," Annora explained as she massaged the bridge of her nose. "My brother was there too, and he told me that I hadn't paid my toll. When I asked what that meant, he just smirked and told me that it was 'Equivalent Exchange'. Then he turned into some huge black thing with freaky purple eyes and held me still while the doors opened and all of these black tentacles came out and tried to pull me in."

Annora paused for a few moments and shuddered. "Man, I **never** want to see that thing again."

"The Gate," Ed muttered suddenly. "It's called the Gate."

Annora and Alphonse both gave Ed a strange look as the former raised her eyebrows in question. Ed gave a loud sigh before he explained.

"The Gate is something that an alchemist encounters when they attempt to perform a human transmutation. Sometimes they survive the encounter, and sometimes they don't. Not everyone is as lucky as Al and I were," he pointed out. The entire time he was saying this, Annora had a funny look on her face. She waited until Ed had finished his statement before she piped up.

"So, I take it then that seeing this Gate is **not** a good thing?"

Ed nodded, and Annora swore profusely under her breath.

"Great, just great. All I need now are the Three Horsemen, and I'll be all set for doomsday," she muttered sarcastically.

"The Three Horsemen?" Ed and Al both asked in obvious bewilderment.

"They're supposed to be the three signs that the Apocalypse, or the end of the world, is coming. Like this Gate of yours, you really don't want to see them."

Ed nodded in agreement, even though he still didn't really understand what Annora was talking about. The teenage alchemist let out a jaw-cracking yawn as he stood up and stretched his arms out.

"Well, I think that we should probably go back to bed," he pointed out before he looked at Annora, his golden eyes serious. "Are you going to be all right?"

The sixteen-year old smiled at him, although it was slightly strained.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay," she admitted. Ed nodded in agreement as he stood up and headed for the door behind Al, only to be stopped by the girl's next words.

"Ed, it… it won't come back, will it?" Annora asked nervously as she stared down at the hardwood floor. Edward looked at her in surprise before he gave a small smile. Even though she acted like it was no big deal, the teenage alchemist could see that Annora was scared. It was a little surprising, not to mention weird, to see someone that gave the impression that they weren't afraid of anything reduced to tears from a single dream. Although, Edward silently admitted, he'd had some pretty bad ones himself, and they weren't just from a guilty conscience. The night that he and Al had tried to transmute their mother still haunted him, even though it had happened five years ago.

"Nah, I don't think that it will."

Annora shot the boy a grateful look as he closed the door behind him before she lay down and pulled the covers up to her neck. She didn't know it, but neither she nor Ed would get much sleep for the rest of the night.

--

Annora stared at the plate in front of her drowsily, her eyes drooping lower each time as she tried to jerk them open. The teen was on the verge of falling asleep in her seat when she suddenly had the photo of a four-year old girl riding her tricycle shoved in her face.

"Isn't she so adorable?" Hughes enthused as he moved the picture of Elysia closer to Annora's face. "Pretty soon she'll be able to ride a bicycle without my help, maybe even without training wheels! This weekend when I was working out in the yard, she kept following me around, like my own little escort of cuteness!"

Ed watched in interest from where he was sitting as Annora glared daggers at the picture, grateful for once that he wasn't the one being badgered with an endless array of photographs. That morning when both he and Annora had managed to drag themselves out of bed, he had suggested that they eat breakfast in the military mess hall instead of at the rented apartment that he and Al were using. Annora had agreed, which was why they were now being forced to endure a lecture delivered by Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, or as Annora called him, the human slide show.

"Mr. Hughes, I'm sure that your daughter is adorable," Annora muttered as she tried to keep a lid on her rapidly rising temper. "But I didn't get that much sleep last night and I'm really tired, so-"

"Oh, is that all?" Hughes asked as he put the picture away in his jacket pocket. "Then why didn't you say so?"

Annora let out a sigh of relief as she began to finish her hash browns, only to find herself looking at another picture, this one of Elysia in a bathing suit with a too-big hat over her head.

"I've got the perfect thing for you, then! This picture is entitled 'In the kiddy pool with Mommy's hat on'! Isn't she the most adorable thing ever?! Don't you just feel the exhaustion melt away as you take just one look at her cute little face?"

Annora ground her teeth together as she gave Ed a look that plainly said 'I will kill you for this'. The teenage alchemist gave a helpless shrug in response as he continued to bolt down his breakfast, while Al watched their silent exchange nervously. Annora was dangerously close to the point of committing murder right then and there when she caught sight of a certain pyro sitting a few tables away from her and Ed, nursing a cup of coffee. The sixteen-year old smirked as a plan suddenly began to formulate within her mind.

"Lieutenant Colonel, you're absolutely right; your daughter is positively adorable," Annora said in an encouraging tone as she smiled sunnily at Hughes, who beamed in delight at the complement. "And while I love looking at her pictures, I don't want to be selfish. Other people should get to see them too. Besides, I don't think that Colonel Mustang has seen that picture that you're showing me right now, and he looks like he desperately needs something to get him going."

"You're right!" Hughes agreed as he stood up. "Roy does look like he needs an energy boost!"

And with that comment, he went off after the next poor victim to unleash his endless supply of pictures upon. Annora, Ed, and Al stared after him before the girl began to hurriedly clean her plate.

"That was so sneaky," Ed said in a mock scolding manner as he grinned at the other teen. "I didn't think that you had it in you."

"Yeah, well let's get out of here before he comes back," Annora remarked as she gathered up her plate and dumped what was left of her breakfast into a trash can. "I think that I've suffered enough for today."

Ed smirked as he and Annora dropped off their plates at the dishwashing table; it looked like the girl had forgotten all about the incident the night before.

--

"So, what was in that package that the Colonel Bastard gave you yesterday?" Ed asked conversationally as he flipped through a particularly old alchemy book that he had already finished taking notes from. Annora glanced up from the sketch that she had been finishing up and raised an eyebrow in interest.

"I don't know. I didn't look," she admitted as she set down her pencil. Ed sent her an inquiring look, and she rolled her eyes in response. "Look, I had other things on my mind yesterday besides what might happen to be in some dumb package that the Colonel gave me, okay? Why are you so interested in it anyway?"

"Because Brother's **jealous**," Al interjected before Ed could say anything. Annora winced as Ed promptly smacked his younger brother upside the head with the alchemy book that he had been reading, knocking off Al's helmet with the force of the blow.

"Shut up!"

"Jeez, how old are you, Ed?" Annora scolded as Al got up and retrieved his helmet. "That was so immature."

"Oh, and you're one to talk!" The Fullmetal Alchemist shot back, his entire face red. "What was it that you said the other day?"

"Maturity is overrated," Annora muttered sarcastically. "Yeah, I know. But at least I'm not mean enough to knock my brother's head off because he teased me."

"You heard what he said!"

Annora closed her eyes and sighed in obvious annoyance. "I say this at the risk of sounding like my brother, but you seem to be making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe the reason why you reacted the way you did is because Al is right."

"Fine, see if I care what the hell that bastard gave you!" Ed growled as he flipped his book open to some random page. Annora raised an eyebrow as she looked at him skeptically before she pulled the cardboard box out of her backpack and set it down on the table. The sixteen-year old smirked inwardly when she saw Ed watching her closely out of the corner of his eye before she began to undo the tape holding the lid shut: he was so predictable.

The teenager opened the lid and stared at the contents for several moments in shock before she scowled darkly.

"That bastard," she spat, her eyes flashing with anger. "May God have mercy on his worthless excuse for a soul, because I sure as hell won't!"

Ed and Al both looked over at her curiously.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked. Annora looked at him before she removed one of the contents of the box and held it up for both brothers to see. Al stared in shock at it for a few moments while Ed's jaw came close to hitting the ground as they both gazed incredulously at the turquoise blue pair of thong underwear that the girl was holding up.

"Does the Colonel have a death wish?" Ed finally managed to ask after he had partially recovered from his shock. Annora scowled in response as she replaced the lingerie back in its box.

"There's a matching top, and a note as well," she remarked stiffly as she removed a scrap of paper from within the box and read it out loud.

**I saw these in a window and thought of you immediately. I believe that they are in your color as well.**

**Enjoy.**

**Roy Mustang.**

Annora folded up the note and placed it back in the box before she pulled out a pencil and scribbled a transmutation circle onto the lid, re-sealing the tape so that it looked as though it had never been opened. Ed and Al watched in bemusement as an unholy smirk crossed the girl's face.

"Fool," she muttered as she set the box down on the ground next to her backpack. Both brothers now looked thoroughly confused as they stared uneasily at the deceptively harmless looking package.

"What are you going to do with that?" Al asked nervously. Annora gave them both a satanic grin in response.

"Oh, I'm just going to _re-gift_ it to someone who will appreciate it more than me," she responded casually. Al began to shake violently while Ed just shook his head.

"Just as long as it doesn't involve us getting shot at," he muttered as he returned to his research. For some almost inexplicable reason, he almost felt sorry for Mustang. _Almost_ being the key word.

Whatever Annora was planning to do with the incredibly skimpy panty and bra set, he just didn't want to know. Somehow, he had a feeling that it was safer that way.

A few hours later, all three of them had enough of researching for the day. Annora had just finished putting away all of her drawing materials when she glanced down at the re-sealed cardboard box that lay at her feet. Ed and Al, who were gathering up the books that they had been looking through, both noticed the malevolent smirk that momentarily crossed the girl's face as she shouldered her backpack and picked up the box.

"You guys are going to drop those back off at the library, right?" she asked, pointing at the huge stacks of books that both brothers were arranging on the table.

"Yeah," Ed answered hesitantly, unsure as to where this conversation was going. Annora smiled at him as she headed out the door.

"Okay, I'll be right back then. I just have to go drop something off," she said as she went off down the hallway. Al looked over at Ed nervously.

"Brother, what is she going to do?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to be here when it happens," Ed muttered fervently. After a few minutes, and no explosions or other sounds of mass chaos, the Elric brothers began to relax just as Annora came back into the room, minus the package. Ed stared at her almost uneasily as he watched the girl grab a stack of books and head out the door after Al.

_Crowded streets all cleared away, one by one._

_Hollow heroes separate as they run._

_You're so cold keep your hand in mine._

_Wise men wonder while strong men die._

"What did you do with the box?" he asked as the three teenagers left Central command and walked down the snow-covered street in the direction of the library. Annora glanced back in his direction and grinned.

"I told you already, I gave it to someone who would appreciate it more than I do," she explained in a deceptively innocent tone. Ed made a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat in response.

"Yeah right. Why do I find myself not believing you? With your warped mind, I think that you doing anything with something that the Colonel gave you will end in violence."

"O ye of little faith," Annora said with a laugh. "You know, I've developed some bad habits since I've met you two. I used to be such a sweet, innocent girl, but now I think I've developed a violent streak."

Ed just sighed and shook his head while Annora laughed at his response. Her amusement was cut short however when she collided right into someone who was walking at a rapid pace in the opposite direction, sending books flying everywhere.

_Show me how it ends, it's alright._

_Show me how defenseless you really are._

_Satisfied and empty inside._

_That's alright, let's give this another try._

"Shit!" Annora muttered as she dropped to her knees and began to gather up the fallen books. "I am so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was…"

The teenager glanced backwards to see both Ed and Al staring at the man that she had bumped into in absolute horror, the former looking like he was about ready to throw up.

"Annora," Ed gritted out through clenched teeth as he glared at the man, who was looking at both boys in obvious distaste. "Get over here, now."

"What… Ed, what are you talking about?" Annora asked as she looked at the other teen. She was surprised when the man actually spoke for the first time, although the comment wasn't directed at her.

"So, this girl… is with you, Edward Elric?" he asked in a cold tone. Ed scowled as he dropped the books he had been holding in the snow and assumed a fighting position.

"Don't you dare touch her, Scar," he snarled, his golden eyes flashing with fury. "She isn't a part of this."

"She is if she's a State Alchemist," Scar shot back. Annora had gotten to her feet by this point, and was in the process of inching away from the huge man standing before her when he suddenly looked at her. The sixteen-year old felt a cold line of fear go down her spine as she stared directly into the man's red eyes.

"So tell me, girl, are you yet another one of those who have defied God and sold their souls to the State?"

Annora moved her lips, but not a single sound came out of her mouth as she shook slightly from fear. Her chocolate eyes widened in horror as Scar took her silence for a 'yes' and brought his right hand up towards her face. It never made contact, seeing as Ed grabbed her by the back of her jacket and yanked her backwards with every ounce of his strength.

"No, she is not a State Alchemist!" Ed roared as he glared daggers at Scar, who was now looking at the two teens in obvious interest. "She's like Al; neither of them are a part of this!"

"Brother," Alphonse began nervously, only to have Ed cut him off.

"Al, I want you to take Annora and run," he ordered as he stepped in front of them. Annora looked at Al uneasily as the younger Elric attempted to lead her away as Ed had suggested.

"What's going on?" the sixteen-year old asked, worry obvious in her eyes. Al let out a nervous sigh as he tried to pull Annora away from the scene.

"Scar is a serial killer that only goes after State Alchemists," he explained. "Normally, I wouldn't-" he stopped in mid-sentence as Annora pulled away from him. The teenage girl ran back towards Edward and planted herself firmly in between him and Scar, her eyes blazing with determined fury.

_If you find your family, don't you cry._

_In this land of make believe, dead and dry._

_You're so cold, but you feel alive._

_Lay your hand on me one last time._

"Now hear this, you big Luger head," she growled acidly before Ed could say a word of protest, her eyes boring into Scar's. "I don't give a **damn** about your stupid, psychotic religious practices, or whatever other whacked reasons that you may have for going after Ed! If you so much as touch my friends, your ass is mine!!"

Ed and Al both stared at the girl in obvious surprise, which was further increased when she glanced back at them and shouted.

"Well, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?! Run you idiots!!"

"It's no use," Scar stated coldly, causing Annora to look at him. "No one can escape from God's wrath, delivered by my own hands."

A strange thing happened at that moment. Annora looked directly up at the muscular Ishbalan, who stood at least a half-foot taller than her, and gave a short sardonic laugh.

"Oh really, is that what you think?" the girl asked as she gave skeptical snort, crossed her arms over her chest and fixed the man in front of her with an intense look. "You sound like some of those asswipes that my brother has to deal with over in the Middle East. Same crap, different objectives."

Scar frowned as he looked at her.

"All those that defy God's law and serve as State Alchemists must die," he stated matter- of-factly. That did it.

"How can you say that? What did Ed ever do to you to deserve this?!" Annora raged, several veins popping up on her forehead. Scar looked slightly intimidated by the angry teenager that was shouting at him, although he hid it well.

"He has gone against the will of God."

"That's bullshit! I don't know who the hell you are, or what your story is, but I sure do know one thing; what you're trying to do is wrong!"

"Then you are naïve. Step aside, girl. You are not a member of the State, and therefore need not be involved." Scar made an attempt to push past Annora, although the teenager stubbornly refused to budge. Fury shone brightly in her eyes as she clenched her hands tightly into fists and stood directly in front of the man with her legs spread slightly apart in an obvious fighting position.

"I am not naïve! And I am going to be involved, because these two are my friends! I'll be **damned **before I just run off like a scared little kid and leave them to whatever you're going to do to them! Now clean out those ears of yours and listen to me, fathead! I don't care what kind of bullcrap you're going to spout about your stupid cause: All you're doing is killing someone in cold blood and justifying it to yourself by calling it 'God's will'! So, if being a murder is God's will, I'm curious to know what it'll do for you."

Annora shot a scathing look at the older man out of the corner of her eye as she delivered the final blow. "I may only be sixteen, but here's one thing that I'm absolutely certain of; no matter how many people you kill, it will **never **bring back the ones that you lost. I know this because my older brother is out in some other country, fighting for his life, just so everyone that he cares about, and even a few people that he doesn't care about, can live in peace. What kind of person would I be if I dishonor my brother and what he's fighting for by running away like some wussy little girl?"

"Honor is not everything," Scar told her coldly. Annora have a harsh laugh in response as she shook her head.

"That's not the point, moron," she told him in an insulting tone, her voice laced with contempt. "What I'm saying is that no matter what you try to do, I'm not going to run away. And if you want to hurt Ed and Al, you're going to have to do it over my cold, dead body."

Further insults were prevented by the sudden erection of a stone wall in between Annora and Scar, courtesy of Alphonse, as Ed darted forward and yanked the sixteen-year old away by the back of her jacket before he and Al took off running.

"You idiot!" he raged as he dragged Annora along behind him by her jacket sleeve. "Are you **trying** to get yourself killed?!"

"I'd like to ask you the same thing!" Annora shot back angrily, her brown eye flashing. "That whole crap with you trying to get me and Al to run away while you sacrifice yourself does **not** fly with me. If you ever try to pull something like that again, I'll kick your ass!!"

_Show me how it ends, it's alright._

_Show me how defenseless you really are._

_Satisfied and empty inside._

_That's alright, let's give this another try._

A resounding explosion echoed behind them, encouraging all three teens to run faster. Annora frowned as they ducked down into an alleyway and zipped around the first corner that they came to, running as fast as they could the entire time.

"So, what did you do to piss this guy off so bad that he's not going to give up that easily?" she gasped. Ed looked over at her as he dodged a trash can.

"He wants to kill all State Alchemists because they were responsible for the genocide of his people," he explained hastily. "It doesn't matter to him that I was only a little kid at the time that this happened, and I wasn't even in the military at then. All he can think about is revenge."

"Oh joy," Annora muttered sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Just what we need; more problems!"

"That's not the worst of it. He uses his right arm to blow people's brains apart; that's how he kills State Alchemists. He also uses it to blow up anything that gets in his way, so hiding is pretty much out of the question."

"Bloody hell! What is this guy's problem?!" Annora demanded, only to be rewarded with blank looks from both brothers. "What?"

"'Bloody hell?'" Ed asked. "Where did you come up with that?"

The teenager looked sheepish as they rounded another corner. "It's something that my grandma says all the time. Last year, I spent my entire summer with her, so I kind of picked up some of her expressions."

"That's a pretty weird saying if you ask me," Ed muttered just as Annora skidded to a stop. "Hey, why did you stop?"

"I've got an idea!" she exclaimed as she shrugged off her jacket and sweater, both of which she handed to a very bewildered Ed.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "This is no time for you to-"

"Take off your red jacket and give it to me," she cut in, holding out her hand. Ed stared at her like she had lost her mind.

"What? Why?" he asked in obvious confusion. Annora gave an annoyed sigh as she gave him an intense look.

"Just do it," she said exasperatedly. Ed immediately complied, and Annora hastily pulled in on. Al immediately caught on as to what she was doing and took a step forward.

"Brother, she's-"

"Playing decoy," Annora finished with a grim smile as she pulled up the hood on Ed's trademark trench coat and tucked her hair back so that none of it showed outside of the hood. Ed's golden eyes widened in horror as he stared at the girl in absolute disbelief.

"You… you can't-" he began, only to have Annora interrupt him.

"Yes I can. Call this Equivalent Exchange for letting me stay with you guys if you want, but you two are my friends. I'm not just going to sit back and let that psycho kill you because he thinks that he's allowed to play God. Besides, he only kills State Alchemists, so I should be safe, right?" she asked with a knowing smile twitching about her lips. The sounds of someone running came closer to their hiding spot, and Annora gave the two brothers a cocky smirk as she stepped out into the main alley.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked as she took off running. "Run!"

Al yanked Ed into the shadows just as Scar dashed past them, obviously going after Annora instead of them. Both of the Elric brothers sat there in shock before Ed snapped out of his trance.

"C'mon, Al," he said as he transmuted a ladder leading up the side of the building that they were standing next to. "We need to go after them to make sure that Annora doesn't get killed."

With that statement, the two began to make their way to the rooftops.

_Show me how it ends, it's alright._

_Show me how defenseless you really are._

_Satisfied and empty inside._

_That's alright, let's give this another try._

'_Shit, this guy is fast!'_ Annora realized belatedly as she ran as fast as she could possibly go down an empty alley. _'How can someone that big run so fast?'_

From the moment that she had left Ed and Al, Scar had been hot on her tail. The teenager, who was fairly skilled at losing unwanted pursuers, had pulled every single trick in the book, including being desperate enough to jump into a yard with a huge, vicious dog that had tried to bite her. Nothing had worked; every time that she knocked something into Scar's path, the muscular Ishbalan merely blew it up using alchemy.

Annora cursed angrily under her breath as she caught sight of a block wall looming up in front of her, although her anger changed into immense relief when she saw the dumpster placed next to it. With a smirk flickering around her lips, the sixteen-year old jumped up onto the lid of the dumpster and vaulted expertly over the obstacle.

"Ha, let's see you get through that, asswipe!" she crowed, although her elation was short-lived when Scar blew a hole in the wall. Before Annora could run out of the alley, he placed a hand on the wall. Out of the corner of her eye, Annora saw a red line streak down the side of the building before the wall exploded right in front of her, blocking her path with debris.

"Shit," the teenager swore as she stared at the crude, but effective barrier in front of her while Scar came up behind her slowly.

"I tire of your childish games," he stated simply as she grabbed her by her left arm and spun her around to face him. Red eyes widened slightly in surprise before he reached out and roughly yanked the hood from her head. Annora looked up at Scar and smirked, her chocolate eyes glinting with grim amusement.

"What's wrong, were you expecting to see someone else?" she asked mockingly. Scar glared at her as he raised his right hand up to the same level as her face.

"You foolish girl," he whispered as the runes on his right arm began to glow red. Annora's eyes widened in fear, and she immediately rammed her knee up into Scar's groin, causing the man to fall to his knees in agony as he let go of her. The sixteen-year old took off like a bat out of hell down the alley, rushing past Scar as she ran for the clear end that intersected with the rest of the alley. Scar gritted his teeth as he glanced behind him and placed his right hand down on the pavement as the runes on his arm began to glow once again.

Annora had almost reached the exit to the alleyway that she was in when the ground shifted beneath her feet and her entire world exploded. The sixteen-year old gave a pained grunt when the force of the blast sent her flying into an unforgiving brick wall head-first, knocking her unconscious. Scar stood up slowly, wincing as he did so, before he turned around to face Annora's limp form sprawled out on the pavement.

_It's alright._

"You told me that I would have to harm the Fullmetal Alchemist over your cold, dead body," he told her as he strode over towards her. "It looks like your request has been answered."

The serial killer was about to place his hand on Annora's head when a loud, angry cry rang out.

"ANNORA!!"

Scar turned around in surprise as Ed jumped down off of the roof where he and Al had been and launched himself directly at the serial killer. The Ishbalan easily avoided the desperate attack, and he grabbed Edward's left leg as he sailed past him. There was a momentary crackle of red lightning along the boy's automail limb before it exploded. Ed fell flat on his face right next to Annora, and he managed to scramble up into a kneeling position, balancing precariously on his maimed leg as he clapped his hands together and transmuted a spear, which he held in front of himself, as he grabbed Annora's still-unconscious form and pulled her close to him protectively.

"Don't you touch her!" he shouted, his golden eyes blazing with defiance. Scar looked at the scene before him in absolute surprise, completely flabbergasted. Before the Ishbalan could make a move, a loud 'snap' echoed behind him, and the alleyway behind him exploded.

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

"Tell me, Fullmetal, why is it that I always have to save your ass?" Mustang asked casually as he strolled over to the two teens with Armstrong and Hawkeye behind him. Ed looked up at the man and made a face just as Al came running around the corner, leading Havoc, Breda, Hughes, and several other soldiers, all of them armed. The soldiers all immediately aimed their guns at Scar, who looked at Mustang and Armstrong with his mouth twisted into an angry scowl before he blew a hole into the sewers below them and escaped.

"Don't follow him," Hawkeye ordered as she looked down at the massive hole and wrinkled her nose slightly from the smell. Havoc looked over at her incredulously as he un-cocked his rifle.

"What made you think that I was going to?" he asked in disbelief. Hawkeye glanced over at the man out of the corner of her eye and raised her eyebrow delicately. Havoc got the hint and decided that it would be best if he scouted the area for other enemies, quickly recruiting a few other soldiers to come with him.

Annora let out a low groan as she slowly came to, her eyes fluttering open. The sixteen-year old found herself staring right into Ed's face, and was still out of it enough to not realize what had just happened.

"Oww… where's the truck that hit me?" she muttered dazedly, her chocolate eyes unfocused. "When I find the driver… I'm so going to kick his ass…"

Ed looked down at her and realized that the teenager wasn't thinking straight, although she was obviously alright. The teenage alchemist went red in the face as he exploded.

"YOU IDIOT!! WERE YOU **TRYING** TO KILL YOURSELF?! THAT WAS ONE OF THE DUMBEST THINGS THAT I HAVE **EVER** SEEN SOMEONE DO IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!"

"Brother…" Al began hesitantly, only to have Ed completely ignore him.

"DO YOU JUST SIT UP AT NIGHT, THINKING OF WAYS TO GET YOURSELF IN TROUBLE?! SCAR ALMOST KILLED YOU, YOU IDIOT!! THAT IS THE LAST TIME I EVER LET YOU DO SOMETHING THAT STUPID!!"

"Fullmetal…" Mustang muttered as he stared at the boy while a large sweatdrop ran down the back of his head. Ed didn't listen to him either.

"I SHOULD KICK YOUR ASS FOR PULLING-"

"Edward," Hawkeye stated calmly, interrupting the boy in mid-rant as she cocked her military-issued pistol and aimed it in the direction of the angry alchemist. "Calm down."

Annora, who by this point was now fully awake and wincing from the pitch that Ed's voice had gone up to, looked over at the older woman and mouthed 'thank you' gratefully. The sixteen-year old then noticed that Ed still had his left arm wrapped around her shoulder, and went bright red in the face as she scooted away from him.

"Okay, I'm an idiot," she admitted as she held her hands up in a placating gesture. "I get that. You don't need to keep yelling at me."

Ed glared at her in response and Annora gave an annoyed sigh as she shrugged off Ed's jacket and held it out to him.

"Listen, what's done is done," she snapped, her brown eyes flashing as her last shred of patience finally cracked. "You can either accept it and move on, or sit here and stew about it. Either way, it's over, it's in the past, okay?"

Al and the remaining military members watched in obvious interest as Ed shot Annora a filthy look.

"It wouldn't be in the past if Scar had killed you," he muttered acidly. Annora glared at him before she reached out and whacked Ed hard on the top of his head with her clenched fist.

"Listen to me, moron," she hissed, her eyes flashing with barely concealed anger. "I'm going to tell you something that my brother told me before he left for Iraq. He told me that if you really think about it, we're only a small part of this earth. In the grand scheme of things, we're only here for a small amount of time in comparison to things like trees, rocks, and even the earth itself. When we die, the only thing left behind is the memory of what we've done with our life, so we've got to do the best we can to leave behind a good legacy. I don't know about you, but I want to leave a **good** impact on the world around me, and if that means dieing for what I believe in, then so be it."

Ed blinked in surprise as he stared at Annora, who looked him dead in the eye seriously. He sat there with his mouth open for a few moments before the words finally came to him.

"I think," he said slowly. "I think that your brother needs to meet our teacher."

Annora stared at him for several seconds before she arched an eyebrow skeptically.

"Is that your way of saying that you're going to stop yelling?" she asked. Ed gave a harsh snort in response as he looked away and crossed his arms. Annora rolled her eyes as she reached over and smacked Ed upside the head again. The alchemist glared at her as he rubbed at the sore spot.

"What was that for?!" he growled, golden eyes flashing. Annora gave him a knowing smirk as she looked at him steadily.

"It doesn't matter; it's in the past," she declared as the corner of her mouth twitched up in barely concealed humor. "The motto of this is; let it go."

Al choked back an amused snort as he tried not to burst out laughing. Ed glared over at him while everyone else rolled their eyes at the stubborn alchemist's antics. Mustang finally decided that they had stood around talking long enough and got everyone's attention.

"Alright, we need to get back to Central Command and file a report on the incident instead of standing around, jabbering like a bunch of schoolgirls," he stated seriously. He looked over and jabbed a finger at Al, startling the boy.

"Alphonse, I need you to help Edward keep up with the rest of us, seeing as he's currently missing a leg right now."

"I'll do it," Annora stated as she stood up, giving Alphonse a sheepish grin. "Sorry Al, but I think that there's less of a difference of height between me and Ed than there is with you."

Mustang smirked as an unforeseen opportunity presented itself.

"That would make more sense, seeing as Fullmetal is too much of a runt for-"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A RUNT SO TINY THAT YOU NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE HIM?!" Ed raged as he tried to go after Mustang, only to fall flat on his face because of his missing automail leg. Annora let out an annoyed sigh as she grabbed the boy by the back of his black jacket and hoisted his left arm over her shoulder, grabbing him by the wrist so he could balance himself properly on his remaining leg.

"C'mon, let's get home before you do something else to hurt yourself," she sighed as she pulled the angry alchemist away from the smirking Colonel. "You can go after him once you get a replacement leg."

--

**The next morning**

--

Annora stared in obvious unease at Ed, who had just finished telling her that the only way he could get a new leg would be for him to go to his mechanic in his hometown of Resembool.

"So let me get this straight; this mechanic is a friend of yours, and she's going to be really upset at you why?"

Ed went an interesting shade of white and muttered something that could have been either 'wrecked automail' or 'kicked by a snail'. Annora raised an eyebrow as she looked at the nervous boy before she shook her head and sighed.

"Alright, I get the hint. I'll get ready to go, and I make my own judgments when I meet this 'Winry' for myself," she stated as she got up from the chair that she had been sitting in and went up to her room to get her backpack ready. Ed watched her go before he propped his elbows up on the table and buried his face in his hands.

"Winry is going to **kill** me," he moaned quietly, vividly imagining the hell that would come forth when his childhood friend found out that he had trashed yet another piece of her treasured automail. "I'm doomed."

Al gave his brother a sympathetic look as he patted him on the back. "Well, if you weren't so rough on it all the time, she wouldn't get so upset."

It was at that moment that the telephone in the hall rang, startling both boys. There was a faint shout of "I'll get it!" from Annora before she raced down the stairs and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" she asked politely, only to flinch and yank the phone away from her ear as the person on the other end exploded into a furious tirade.

"YOU LITTLE WENCH! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU'LL WISH THAT YOU HAD NEVER LEFT YOUR HOMETOWN!!"

Mustang's livid ranting was interrupted by the sound of gunshots, along with the sound of another, although noticeably more faint, voice that came through the receiver clearly.

"Sir, unlock the door, now." That had to be Hawkeye, and it was obvious that she was **pissed**.

"NEVER!!" Mustang shrieked. Annora stared at the phone in her hands with an odd look on her face as more gunshots echoed from the other end, along with the obvious sounds of something exploding. The teenager's right eye developed a slight twitch as she looked down at the phone before she hung up.

"Ed, Al, how soon does the next train leave?" she asked in a deceptively calm voice. Al poked his head into the hallway and looked at her curiously.

"Why?"

"Because I think that it might be in our best interests to leave town while we're still alive."

"What did you do?" Ed demanded seriously from the kitchen. Annora looked decidedly embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

"Umm… that payback that I did to Mustang for sending me the thong… it had unexpected repercussions."

"The next train leaves at 9:15," Al pointed out. "But that's in ten minutes, and Brother can't walk that fast…"

"When does the next one leave then?" Annora asked as she looked at the possessed suit of armor seriously.

"Noon."

"Shit!" the sixteen-year old muttered as she stalked towards the stairs. "By that time, Mustang will have barbequed me!"

"We can make it," Ed pointed out as he leaned against the door frame to the kitchen for support, a knowing smirk flickering about his face. "If Al carries me, we can probably get there in time…"

Ten minutes later, Annora and Al were running for all they were worth alongside the rapidly accelerating train while Ed clung to his younger brother's shoulders.

"Hurry up, or we'll miss it, dammit!" he roared angrily. Annora sped up and grabbed a hold of the railing on the end car, dragging herself aboard while Alphonse did the same thing. The three teens all went weak-kneed in relief as the train left the station just as Mustang came whipping around the corner with his ignition-cloth gloves on and a murderous gleam in his eyes. Annora couldn't resist grinning cheekily and waving at the irate man, who had no choice but to let them go as they pulled out through the tunnel.

"You're evil," Ed muttered as he looked at Annora, who gave him an innocent smile in response.

"Yeah, and it took you how long to figure this out? I've been living with you guys for over a month already."

Al just shook his head as the two teens got into one of their usual verbal sparring matches while they went into the back train car and found seats. This was going to be a long ride.

--

"Unnh…" Annora groaned groggily as the train's jolting movement shook her awake. She glanced out the window that her face had been pressed against while she had been asleep and saw that the train was slowing down. The sixteen-year old rubbed at her eyes groggily before she noticed that it was late in the afternoon, late enough that the sun was beginning to set.

"Where are we?" she murmured quietly.

"There's a rest stop about halfway between Central and the next town," Al said suddenly, causing Annora to jump in her seat before she realized who it was. The teenager looked over at him and gave a tired smile, although her expression quickly changed into one of embarrassment when her stomach gave a loud growl. Al just laughed and shook his head.

"Don't worry, there's a shop where you can get food too," he pointed out. Just then, the train came to a stop, and Annora, along with Al and several other people, stood up. Annora looked over at Ed, who lay sprawled out on the seat sound asleep, and made a face.

"What about him?" she asked as she and Alphonse left the train.

"Don't worry. Brother is a pretty sound sleeper, unless someone calls him short that is," the fifteen-year old admitted. Annora nodded in agreement as they passed a small shop where a man was selling sandwiches. While Al bought three, saying jokingly that Ed could eat two by himself, Annora found herself looking around her in fascination. She had never been on a train before, so it was exhilarating to not only ride one, but also get to experience looking around a train station without it being a tourist attraction. It was then that she caught sight of a group of crows attacking something on the platform.

The teenager frowned as she walked over towards the huddled mass of black birds, her expression darkening when she realized that whatever the birds were pecking at was alive. Annora angrily quickened her pace and swung her foot directly at the tail of the crow closest to her, booting the bird directly in the backside. The startled crow let out a frightened squawk as flapped desperately into the air, soon followed by the rest of its fellows.

"Bunch of bloody scavengers," she growled as she looked down at the limp furry form that lay huddled forlornly on the wooden platform. It was only when the black-furred animal uncurled and let out a pained whimper that Annora realized that she was looking at a puppy that was probably less than three months old. The teenager knelt down next to the injured animal and looked at it closely.

"Hey there little guy," she whispered reassuringly. The puppy whimpered again as it crawled closer to her on its belly, gazing up at her with dark soulful brown eyes. A small smile crept across Annora's lips as she gently reached out and fingered the splash of white fur that marked the puppy's muzzle and front paws.

"Ranger," she muttered thoughtfully, a far off look entering her eyes. If it hadn't been for the difference in age, Annora would have thought that she was looking at her old dog, who had passed away six years ago from old age. The teenager absentmindedly petted the young dog, and frowned when her fingertips felt the animal's ribs with unsettling clarity.

"Poor little guy," she said as she picked the puppy up and cradled it protectively in her arms. "Where's your mom? You're way too young to be away from your mom yet."

"She got run over," a boy about her own age stated casually as he walked over to her before indicating to the puppy that Annora now held in her arms. "He's the last of the lot. The rest of 'em just up and died, and he doesn't look like he's gonna make it either."

Annora immediately decided that she didn't like this boy, who was now looking at her in obvious interest. The girl glared at him defiantly as she tucked the dog gently down the front of her buttoned-up jacket.

"He's just gonna die you know," he told her in a matter-of-fact tone.

"So?" Annora responded acidly, her brown eyes flashing with barely controlled anger. "At least I'll be able to give him some comfort before that happens instead of letting him get pecked to death."

"Where you from?" the boy asked suddenly. Annora resisted the almost overwhelming urge to roll her eyes as she responded.

"Central."

"Are you with anyone?"

"Yes, my older brother," she muttered, lying through her teeth. The boy gave her a skeptical look and opened his mouth to say something just as Al came around the corner holding a paper bag that contained their sandwiches.

"Annora, there you are! I was wondering where you went."

A change came over the boy, and he stared at Al in obvious horror before he whirled around and ran off screaming.

"Demon armor! Possessed demon armor!"

Annora and Al both sweatdropped as they watched the boy run like a bat out of hell before the sixteen-year old turned around and looked at the younger Elric curiously.

"What was that all about?" she asked. Al let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his helmet.

"Uhh… about a year ago, I got almost my entire right side blown off by Scar, and the only way I could travel was by being put in a crate. I accidentally got dropped off at this station when Brother and I were on our way back to Resembool, and I think that was the same boy who stole me from the platform. Anyway, I told him that I was a demon suit of armor and he freaked out."

(AN: This is in the anime. I almost died laughing when I saw it.)

Al looked over at Annora, who was laughing so hard that she was crying. Once she had finished, she wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes and looked up at him.

"That was so mean," she gasped just as the puppy let out a small 'yip' from inside her jacket. Annora flushed a bright shade of red as she hastily looked down at the ground.

"What was that?" Al asked.

"N-nothing!" Annora stammered nervously. "Absolutely nothing!"

If it had been at all possible, Alphonse would have smiled.

"Well, you had better keep that 'nothing' in your backpack, otherwise Brother will notice and he'll make us put it back," the fifteen-year old told her, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. "So, what is it?"

Annora gave Al a sheepish grin as she partially unbuttoned her jacket to reveal the black puppy, which poked its head up and panted happily.

"He was being attacked by crows," she explained hesitantly, an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. "Well, he's just so young, and he looks almost exactly like my old dog, Ranger."

"You had a dog?" Al asked in surprise as Annora buttoned up her jacket and headed back towards the train. The teenager nodded as she climbed the steps leading up into their car.

"Yeah, but he died when I was ten. He was really old, almost sixteen, and I just woke up one morning and found him in his bed, looking like he was asleep. My parents had gotten him two years before they had Ethan or me, not long after they got married. It was a joke with my parents, because my dad called him the 'Lone Ranger' or 'Ranger' for short, after some comic book that he used to read."

Al nodded in understanding, inwardly grinning as they sat down in their seats while the train started to move again, as he watched Annora transfer the puppy to her partially empty backpack and break off bits of her sandwich, feeding the hungry dog small bits at a time so as not to make it sick. After consuming almost a third of the girl's sandwich, the small dog let out a sleepy yawn and curled up inside Annora's backpack to take a nap. Annora smiled as she finished off the rest of her sandwich and stuffed the paper wrapping into the bag.

"Please wake me up when we get there," she asked as she leaned back against the window and nodded off once again, slipping easily into the realm of dreams.

--

Woo-hoo! Eight chapters! I am on a roll! Not to mention the seventy-some odd reviews that I've gotten for seven chapters. No, I got 77, so that means about an average of 11 reviews per chapter.

**Ed:** You're easily appeased. (Wandering Hitokiri looks at him and raises and eyebrow)

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Maybe, but unfortunately that's not so true right now. (All of the people who started reviewing before the seventh chapter, or if they reviewed under a signed name, skip ahead to almost the end of the document. You don't have to read this.)

Okay everyone, I have a bit of bad news for you all. I received a review from someone anonymously, and they told me a few things, one of them being that there is no Christmas in Amesteris. I am aware of that, thanks to one of my other reviewers who kindly took the time to tell me that, as well as I recently read the volume of manga where Hiromu Arakawa said in an end-comic extra that there was no such thing as Christmas or Valentine's day in Amesteris. I call upon literary license, which means that I can make shit up to add to the plot line.

But that is not what really offended me. What **really** upset me was the fact that this … reviewer… told me to knock off the Ed x OC crap and just stick to them being friends. I will tell you right now that all I have written so far was with the intention of them being 'just friends'. The comment that Alphonse made to Ed at the end of chapter six was a joke; he was just teasing Ed. I do it all the time with my brother by giving him crap about him liking a girl that he would never think of as anything other than a friend. He gives me crap **continuously** about me liking boys that I would never even consider dating in a million years because they're just my friends. (Yes, I am a girl.) All I did was add insinuations, and I'm saying that the embarrassing stuff happened by accident, a byproduct of me and my friends brainstorming crazy stuff that should happen to Ed and Annora.

All the comments that Mustang makes about Annora being Ed's girlfriend, they're just another one of his attempts to get under Ed's skin. Anyway, this story is still a work in progress, meaning that it may develop along the way. I have a basic idea as to what's going to happen sometime near the end of my story, but nothing's set in stone. Not to mention the fact that if it does end up being an Ed x OC, that's **my** decision because this is my story. If you don't like that, deal with it. Actually, if you have a problem with how my plot is going, don't read this story then. Just don't waste my time by sending me insulting reviews, and if you outright flame me for my opinions, see my profile for my policy of flamers before I come after you, that way you'll at least have a chance against me. I am not saying this to be insulting, I'm just warning you that I have a low tolerance for people insulting my or my friends work.

As for focusing more on Annora getting home, I'll tell you right now that she eventually does manage to go home. The reason that Ed and Al are not helping her to find a way home is because of the fact that Annora has not told them about her world. Not only does she still not accept the fact that she is in the world of 'FMA', which she has no idea whatsoever about anything that goes on there, but Ed doesn't believe her as to where she came from because science can't explain it. Annora also never made the claim that she was from another world, and Ed just thinks she's a little delusional as to where she says she's from.

To all my normal reviewers, I'm so sorry if you read all this crap. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me what you think about this story.

Annora, Ethan, and Katie © me, anything else belongs solely to Hiromu Arakawa. Oh, and the lyrics are from a song called 'So Cold' by Breaking Benjamin.


	9. Chapter Nine: Fear the Wrench

**Chapter Nine:**

**Fear the Wrench**

Ed blinked groggily as the jolting movement of the train woke him up. It took a few moments for the alchemist to figure out where he was, although he was surprised to see Annora sitting in the seat across from him, obviously sound asleep while she leaned up against Al. The Fullmetal Alchemist gave a small grin as he let out a yawn and stretched his arms out over his head; going to Resembool was almost a two-day trip by train, so it wasn't surprising that either of them had fallen asleep.

Al looked over at his brother and gently waved his left hand at him, seeing as Annora was currently leaning up against his right arm and snoring softly.

"Good morning, Brother."

"It's morning already?" Ed asked in slight confusion as he yawned again and rubbed the back of his neck to work the kinks out of it.

"Yep. The conductor came by not that long ago and said that we'll be in Resembool in about an hour."

It was at about that moment that Annora's head slipped off from Al's shoulder and the teen was jarred awake when her face collided painfully with the younger Elric's armored leg.

"Ouch!" Annora hissed as she immediately jerked upright into a sitting position and rubbed at her stinging cheek ruefully. She then directed her attention over to Ed, who was laughing so hard that he almost fell off his seat.

"Shut up, Ed!"

Ed didn't shut up, as he was laughing too hard to even notice that the girl had said something. Annora's face went red as she glared at the boy before her patience snapped, causing her to yank her math book out of her backpack before she lunged over and smacked the Fullmetal Alchemist over the head with the ten-pound book.

CRACK!

"Homework kills. It's a proven fact," Annora stated with a knowing smirk on her face as she carefully replaced her textbook inside her backpack, taking great pains to avoid waking up her new companion, who was still sleeping in the largest pocket of her backpack. Ed, managing to recover from the minor concussion that he had just received, glared at her as he rubbed the newly acquired bump on his head.

"What was that for?!" he demanded angrily. Annora grinned at him innocently as she removed her MP3 player and headphones from her backpack and slipped them over her ears, hiding the speakers underneath her hair so that people passing by couldn't see them.

"I can't hear you," she stated impishly as she turned on her player and changed the album that had been playing to _Phobia_by Breaking Benjamin. Ed's expression changed from annoyance to puzzlement as he stared at the device that Annora held in her hand.

"What the hell is that thing?" he asked, pointing to the pale green music player. Annora arched an eyebrow as she looked at Ed, disbelief written clearly on her features.

"You're kidding me, right?" she asked as she unhooked one of the earphones from over her ear and stared at him. Ed shook his head, while Al looked over Annora's shoulder at her ZEN Media.

(AN: For all of you who don't know what that is, it's the equivalent of an iPod video, only cheaper and better quality.)

"I've never seen anything like that before," he pointed out, only to have Annora give him a sarcastic pitying look.

"You poor deprived child," she said teasingly as she took off her headphones and handed them and her player over to the bemused alchemist. "Allow me to introduce you to one of the great marvels known as portable music."

Ed tentatively hooked the headphones over his own ears, and relaxed when he heard what sounded almost like a piano playing. He was about to make a teasing comment to Annora about liking classical music when the general tone of the music changed and the lyrics started.

_If I had to_

_I would put myself right beside you_

_So let me ask_

_Would you like that?_

_Would you like that?_

_And I don't mind_

_If you say this love is the last time_

_So now I'll ask_

_Do you like that?_

_Do you like that?_

_No!_

_Something's getting in the way_

_Something's just about to break_

_I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane_

_So tell me how it should be_

Ed froze as he stared incredulously at Annora's MP3 player; this was like no song that he had ever heard. The bewildered teen stared down at the screen, which displayed the title of the song, _Diary of Jane_, as well as the band and the album.

'_This is weird,'_ he though as he examined the player closely, while still listening to the music. He had never seen anything in his life even **remotely** close to what Annora had just handed over to him, much less heard of someone inventing it. Annora watched him with an amused grin on her face, and Ed looked at her, his mind whirling with millions of questions.

_Try to find out what makes you tick_

_As I lie down_

_Sore and sick_

_Do you like that?_

_Do you like that?_

_There's a fine line between love and hate_

_And I don't mind_

_Just let me say that I like that_

_I like that_

_Something's getting in the way_

_Something's just about to break_

_I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane_

_As I burn another page_

_As I look the other way_

_I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane_

_So tell me how it should be_

Was Annora actually an alchemist? Ed immediately dismissed the thought; there was no way that was even possible, not by the farthest stretch of the mind. When Ed had watched the sixteen-year old perform her first actual transmutation, the amazement that she had expressed had been genuine, not fake. The moment that the State Alchemist dismissed that notion, several others took its place. Where was Annora from? Why didn't the places that she had pointed out to him and Al on the map in her history book exist on any of the maps found in Amesteris? There were scores of unanswered questions whirling about in the alchemist's brain, and for once he couldn't come up with a reasonable answer to a single one.

_Desperate, I will crawl _

_Waiting for so long_

_No love, there is no love_

_Die for anyone_

_What have I become?_

_Something's getting in the way_

_Something's just about to break_

_I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane_

_As I burn another page_

_As I look the other way_

_I still try to find my place_

_In the diary of Jane_

When the song ended, Ed removed the headphones from over his ears, clapped his hands together, and placed them on Annora's ZEN. This action resulted in a flurry of electric-blue sparks, and Annora jumped slightly in her seat before Ed handed her player back to her, completely unharmed.

"It's like… nothing I've ever seen before," he remarked quietly while Annora inspected her music player closely. The girl looked up at him and gave him an exasperated grin.

"Well that's nice to know," she remarked in a slightly amused voice. "I was going to say, if you broke this, I would kick your ass. This was a Christmas present from my parents last year, and I'd be really upset if you did something to it."

"Yeah, well you better keep that, your lap thingy-"

"Laptop."

"Whatever, and that little annoying phone of yours away from Winry, because she'll take them apart on the first chance she gets. I told you yesterday that she's a mechanics junkie," Ed remarked as he rolled his eyes. Annora looked visibly startled as she turned off her MP3 player and put it back in her backpack.

"You failed to mention that bit of information," she muttered as the train came to a stop. Ed didn't hear her, seeing as he was now preoccupied on getting his suitcase out from the luggage rack over their heads without falling flat on his face.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So… this is where you two grew up?" Annora asked casually as she and Al helped Ed down the road. The sixteen-year old was carrying her backpack, Ed's suitcase, and the black cloth carrying case that held her laptop, while Al helped Ed along, although the alchemist was balanced between the two teenagers.

"Yeah. Al and I were born here, and we lived here until about five years ago, when I left to become a State Alchemist."

Annora looked over Ed with a slightly worried expression before she redirected her attention over towards the two-story house they were approaching. She didn't notice the massive black shape that came bounding out of the house and down the dirt road until it came to a skidding halt in front of her and woofed loudly.

"It's okay Den, she's with us," Al stated calmly as he reached out and patted the large dog on the head. Annora on the other hand, was the exact opposite of calm, seeing as the puppy in her backpack was now squirming about in response to the older dog's presence. Ed looked over at her and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the girl went stiff when Den came up to her and showed an obvious interest in her backpack. It was at that moment that an angry shout broke through the late morning quiet as a blonde-haired girl stormed out onto the porch on the second floor and glared at the three teens that were standing in her front yard.

"ED, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO CALL BEFORE YOU COME IN FOR REPAIRS?!" she shrieked as she expertly threw a wrench at Ed. Unfortunately for Annora, Ed lost his balance in surprise at Winry's shout, and the wrench hit Annora full force on the top of her head with a resounding 'clang'. The teen stood there for a few moments, her balance wavering, before her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she slumped forward, out cold.

About twenty minutes later, Annora came to on a couch in the living room with a raging headache, which was not helped by the shouting match that was taking place in the next room.

"You idiot, how could you have ruined something like that?! That was a state-of-the-art piece of automail that I gave you, and you TRASHED IT?!!"

"Winry, it was either me or-"

CLANG!!!

Annora jumped at the sound, and winced as the room began to spin wildly. The sixteen-year old had just bent down and put her head between her knees to fight off the waves of nausea that hit her when Winry came into the room, a slightly bloodied wrench gripped tightly in her right hand. The other girl looked over at Annora and immediately realized what was wrong.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she knelt down next to Annora, who had her eyes clamped shut so she wouldn't see the room spinning.

"I'll be okay; at least once I stop feeling like I'm on a boat in the middle of a hurricane," Annora muttered faintly as she sat up. Winry gave her an apologetic look as she sat down on the couch next to the other girl.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you on the head like that," she said sheepishly. Annora looked over at her and gave a wry grin.

"It's okay; at least I'm not any worse for the wear from the experience," she pointed out as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Annora Thomas."

"Winry Rockbell," Winry told her as she shook the teenager's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. You have **no** idea how glad I am to be able to talk to another girl my age," Annora muttered fervently. Winry laughed at the expression on her face.

"I can tell. So, out of curiosity, how did you come to hang around with Ed and Al?"

A dark expression crossed Annora's face as she stared ahead, glowering at the floorboards as the memory of how she came to know the two brothers over a month ago came to mind.

"I had a little run-in with the military, and I pissed off Colonel Mustang," she started before she let out a small sigh. "Things just went downhill from there."

Winry arched an eyebrow in interest as she looked at Annora, who sat next to her on the couch with her hands clasped together in front of her. She could tell that there was more to the girl's story than what she was telling her.

"And how did you manage that?" the automail mechanic asked curiously. Annora glanced over at her and gave an embarrassed shrug.

"Well, there was this creep that jumped me, and I was trying to outrun him, and I ran right into the Colonel. He grabbed me, and I hit him in the stomach with my backpack." Annora thought for a moment before she added. "That, and I cussed him out after he and Ed caught me."

"Yeah, and I still haven't recovered from hearing you swear like a sailor," Ed remarked sarcastically from where he was leaning up against the doorway. Annora looked over at him in shock and blinked several times.

"You have both legs," she said in a startled tone. Ed rolled his eyes as he pulled up his left pant leg and revealed his artificial leg, although this one resembled the ones that Annora had seen back home.

"It's just a replacement for until my automail is fixed," he grumbled as he released his pant leg. Annora noticed that Winry looked decidedly angry at the mention of automail, and tried to scoot away from the other girl subtly before all hell broke loose. Fortunately, Fate intervened in the form of Alphonse and a tiny old woman coming into the room just as Winry was about to beat the crap out of Ed.

"Edward, would you introduce us to your friend?" she asked sternly, and Annora noticed with interest that both teenagers immediately froze and looked at the woman before Ed gave a slight nod.

"Granny Pinako, Winry, this is Annora. Annora, this is my friend Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako," Edward told her as he gestured at the two. Annora gave both of the women a smile before she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Nice to meet you," she said just as her backpack gave a yip and fell over. Annora froze and her eyes widened as she turned around to stare uneasily at the squirming canvas bag. Ed gave her a skeptical look as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Just out of curiosity, what could be in your bag that's alive?" he asked as he went over and knelt down next to her backpack.

"Umm… a dwarf?" she muttered desperately. Ed shot her a filthy look in response as he unzipped the compartment, and Annora's newest friend tumbled out. The puppy, now freed of its fabric prison, immediately toddled over to her and sat down at her feet, it's tiny tongue hanging out as it panted happily. Ed glowered at Annora as she picked up the small dog and held it to her chest, laughing nervously.

"Well, what do you know…" she muttered, only to be cut off by the death glare that Ed sent her way.

"How long has that been in there?" he asked, shifting his attention from her to Al. "Are you part of this too, Al?"

"No, I'm the one that found him," Annora interjected, stepping in between the two brothers. "He was being attack on the train platform by a bunch of crows at the rest stop yesterday, and I brought him with me. Al isn't a part of this."

Ed shot her a skeptical look and gave a disbelieving snort in response, while Alphonse silently thanked Annora for her intervention. Winry on the other hand, came up behind Ed and smacked him once again with a wrench.

"Stop being so cold-hearted," she scolded as she looked over at Annora. "Can I see him?"

The sixteen-year old reluctantly handed the puppy over to Winry, who inspected the small animal closely before she gave it back to Annora.

"First of all, your dog's a girl, not a boy," she stated matter-of-factly as she reached out and petted the puppy's head. "Second, she looks like she's one of those sheep dogs or something like that."

Annora grinned as she hugged the small dog, pulling it closer to her. "Cool."

"No, **not** cool," Ed growled he sat up and rubbed the spot where Winry had hit him. "That thing is a menace."

Annora gave Ed a skeptical look as she hid an amused grin. "Why's that? Did you have a dog try and burry you or something after it mistook you for a chew toy?"

Ed stared at Annora for a few seconds, not catching the meaning behind her comment as Winry, Al, and Pinako all looked at her like she was crazy, before realization dawned upon him.

"What did you just call me?" he growled, golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you calling me short?"

Annora smirked in response as she took a precautionary step back. "You're the only one who said that, hobbit boy."

All hell broke loose.

"For the last time, I am not a goddamned HOBBIT!" Ed shrieked as he lunged for Annora, who easily sidestepped him. Winry then intervened by hitting the boy upside the head with a wrench yet again, knocking him out cold.

"Why don't we all go have something to eat? I'm sure that you two have plenty to tell us," she said, looking directly at Al and Annora as she smiled brightly. Annora glanced uneasily at the wrench that the other girl still held in her hand before she immediately agreed. She wasn't dumb enough to refuse; unlike Ed, she valued her life.

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"I hate this," Ed grumbled as he lay flat on his back in the grass. Al glanced over at him curiously. The two brothers were currently sitting outside of the Rockbell's house, enjoying some mid-winter sunshine.

"What do you mean, Brother?"

Ed let out a sigh as he stared up at the clouds floating above them, his mind wandering.

"The waiting, I hate it," he muttered. If Al could have raised an eyebrow, he would have.

"Brother, you're not making any sense," he pointed out before an idea came to him. "Wait a minute; I know what's wrong with you."

"Oh do you?"

"Yeah. You're just upset because Annora's been hanging out with Winry all the time."

Ed froze in his spot as his mind was immediately jerked back into reality. They had been in Resembool for three days, and in that time Annora and Winry had struck up a friendship almost immediately. It was driving Ed nuts, seeing both girls sitting at the table where Winry assembled her automail, chatting away as though they had known each other their whole lives. Not that he would ever admit it though.

"Why should I care?" he grumbled as he turned over onto his side to look at Al. "It's not like it's a big deal."

"Uh huh," Al said disbelievingly. "That's what you say, Brother. I know that you like her."

Ed shot him a dirty look in response as he protested.

"Seriously, why would I like a foul-mouthed tomboy like her?"

Al froze, his eyes widening to about the size of platters as he stared in absolute horror behind Ed.

"Brother…" he started, only to have Ed keep going.

"I mean, look at her. She's got a fouler mouth than I do, she has the worst temper that I have ever seen on a girl, and she practically PMS's every day," he muttered, only to stop when he caught sight of the look on Al's face. "What's up with you?"

"Brother, you might want to look behind you," Al said nervously as he pointed to something behind Ed with a trembling finger. The alchemist turned around to see Annora standing behind him with a murderous look on her face, although a closer inspection also showed tears were welling up in her eyes.

"So," she finally ground out, fury evident in her voice, "that's what you think of me. Well, I'm glad to know that."

"Annora-" Ed began, only to have the teenager whirl around and storm off into the house, slamming the door loudly behind her. Al shot Ed a filthy look as he stood up and went after the girl in an effort to calm her down, leaving Ed sitting in the grass. The alchemist growled a low curse under his breath as he buried his face in his hands.

"I am such an idiot," he groaned. "This is yet another fine example of me putting my foot in my mouth."

The sound of the front door to the Rockbell's house opening and closing caught Ed's attention, and he looked up to see Annora stalking down the front path with her letterman's jacket on and her backpack slung over her shoulder, her mouth set in a grim line. It was then that Ed noticed that she was headed in the direction of the forest that lay on the outskirts of Resembool, less than a ten-minute walk away from the Rockbell residence. The Fullmetal Alchemist shot to his feet and headed after her, only to have Annora increase her pace when she noticed that he was following her.

"Go away!" she spat without even looking behind her. Ed didn't listen to her as he broke into a fast jog so he could catch up.

"Where are you going?"

"Away from you!"

Ed looked slightly taken aback at her response before he reached out and grabbed Annora's right arm, causing her to whirl around and glare at him. The sixteen-year old ignored this as he looked directly into her eyes.

"What is your problem?" he demanded. A scowl flickered across Annora's face as she tried to yank her arm out of his grasp.

"My problem? **My** problem?" she asked in disbelief, her voice rising up to a slightly uncomfortable pitch as she glared at Ed. "My problem is that I am **sick** and **tired** of all the bullshit that I've had to put up with for the past six weeks! I'm tired of people treating me like a child, especially when one of them is probably two years younger than me! All I want to do is go home, and I can't even do that because I have no idea where 'home' is!! Every single time I show someone a map of where I live, they tell me that the map I have is either fake, or the places that I'm showing them don't exist!"

"That's because they don't!" Ed roared, his golden eyes flashing as his temper got the better of him. "If you look at any map of Amesteris and the surrounding countries, you'll see that there isn't any place called the 'United States', much less a town called 'Flagstaff'! Get it through your head Annora, they don't exist!"

"Yes they do!" Annora shot back as she yanked her arm out Ed's grasp. "I was born there God damn it, so I should know! Why don't you get it through your thick skull, Edward, that I'M NOT FROM THIS PLACE!! I don't belong here!"

Ed glared at the teenager before he exploded. "Then where are you from?! If you'll just tell the truth, it'll make it easier for us to help you get home!! Not to mention that I'm the same age as you, sixteen!"

Annora gave a bitter laugh as she turned around and started walking again. "I don't think that you can help me get home," she said as a sad look entered her eyes. "No one can, at least not unless they know how to travel in between worlds."

Shock was evident on Ed's face as he stared in disbelief at Annora, who glanced back at him and shook her head as she broke into a jog, and then a run before entering the forest. The teenage alchemist stood in the middle of the dirt path before he uttered yet another angry curse and hurried after Annora, breaking into a dead run when a frightened shriek echoed in the forest not too far in front of him.

"Annora!" he cried out as he burst into the area where she was, only to be treated to an extremely unusual sight. The sixteen-year old had dropped her backpack on the ground and was standing frozen on the path, her entire body rigid as she stared straight ahead with her chocolate eyes wide in fear.

"What's wrong with you?" Ed asked as he approached her. It was then that he noticed that Annora was trembling slightly.

"There-there's a sn… there's a sna-snake in my shirt," she stammered. "It just fell out of one of the trees…"

Ed stared at her incredulously, both of his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. She was afraid of snakes? He fought the urge to laugh as he walked over to her just as the previously mentioned animal poked its scaly head up over the collar of Annora's jacket. Without a word, Ed reached out and easily plucked the offending reptile out from the girl's clothing. Once he had done this, Annora immediately relaxed and turned around to face him.

"Thanks," she muttered as she held out her hand. "Could I see the snake?"

"Umm…sure," Ed responded as he handed the squirming reptile over to Annora, who gripped it firmly by the tail and swung it around once before she let go, causing the creature to go airborne for several yards before its flight was cut short by a large oak tree, where it stopped with a loud 'thunk' and slid down to the ground. Ed sweatdropped as he looked back over at Annora, who had picked up her backpack and was now looking at him.

"I **hate** snakes," she muttered fervently, and Ed gave a wry laugh in response.

"No, really? I didn't figure that out," he responded sarcastically. Annora gave an aggravated groan as she started walking again, pointedly not looking at Ed. The alchemist stared after her for a few seconds before he called out.

"So, do you have any particular destination in mind?"

"Yeah, home," Annora shot back over her shoulder, her chocolate eyes flashing darkly with anger. "That way, maybe I won't have to deal with you and your stupid insults!"

"I… I wasn't talking about you."

"Bullshit! Who else would you be talking about? I don't like it when people lie to me, Ed, and I'm usually pretty good at knowing when they are. So cut the crap and leave me the hell alone!"

Edward scowled at Annora as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"I have a rough idea. My house back home was right next to the woods and I used to out there and play all the time. This place looks a lot like where I lived, so I think I'll be okay."

"Fine, suit yourself then," Ed muttered as he turned around and headed back down the path towards Resembool, soon disappearing behind a large clump of trees. Annora watched him go for a few moments before she turned back around and started off down the dirt trail in the direction opposite of Ed. Although she soon turned around when she heard a startled yell, followed by a long stream of curses. Annora came around the corner and immediately clapped both hands over her nose and mouth when a familiar stench assaulted her senses. Her question as to what had happened was immediately answered when she saw a small black and white animal trundle away from Ed back into the bushes.

"Did you… just get sprayed by a skunk?" Annora asked as she tried not to laugh, although she failed to keep the humor out of her voice. Ed shot her a filthy look in response, although the intensity of the glare was diminished from the fact that the boy's eyes were watering from the stench that now emanated from him. That did it for Annora; she burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Ed snapped, his golden eyes flashing. Annora continued to laugh, much to the boy's dismay.

"Stop laughing!" he growled before he let out an annoyed sigh. "Great, now I'm going to have to sleep outside for a week."

Annora shot him a curious look and arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Why? Don't you know how to get the smell off?"

"No," Ed muttered unhappily. "It doesn't fade easily, and it takes about a week of scrubbing your skin raw for the smell to come off. I got sprayed once when I was a kid, and my mom made me sleep outside in a tent for over a week."

Annora shook her head and laughed. "Poor you. It's a pity that I know **exactly** how to make the smell go away."

Ed immediately perked up. "You do? How?"

"Tomato juice and baking soda," Annora stated wisely. "But, I seem to have forgotten the exact way on how to do it."

"Equivalent Exchange, huh?" Ed muttered, and Annora immediately smiled. "So, what do you want in return?"

"An apology would be nice," the teenager admitted with a knowing smile flickering about her lips. "But you don't have to. Unless you want to smell like skunk for the next week or so that is."

Ed let out a loud sigh. "Fine, I'm sorry."

"That's much better," Annora declared before she started walking in the direction of Resembool. "C'mon then, let's go back to Winry's. I'll show you what to do when we get there."

The two teens started back towards the Rockbell residence, with Annora staying upwind from Ed while the boy sulked. Neither of them noticed a certain familiar individual rise up out of the bushes where the snake had landed and rub the back of his head.

"Than damn wench," Envy growled as he massaged his abused head, which was still smarting from his unfortunate head-on collision with a tree. "Who knew that someone so frail-looking could throw so hard?"

The homunculus watched the two teens until they vanished from sight before a thoughtful smirk crossed his face.

"So, the girl is with the Fullmetal Pipsqueak then? Hmm… I wonder…" Envy mused before he shrugged as he turned around and walked off. "What will the Master have to say about this bit of information?"

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Ed stared uneasily at the tub of red liquid that sat in front of him before he spun around and glared at both Annora and Winry.

"I'm not doing this! I don't care what you say, I am not setting foot in that… that sludge!"

Annora rolled her eyes and let out an aggravated sigh before she reached up and massaged the bridge of her nose.

"Look Ed, stop being such a damn weenie and just get in the tub!" she finally snapped, her brown eyes flashing with barely restrained anger. "It's not like we're forcing you into a tub of milk or something."

"Tomato juice is used for cooking, not bathing!" the boy retorted hotly as he folded his arms over his chest in a defiant gesture. Annora gritted her teeth and muttered something under her breath that sounded like a curse, but it was in no language that Ed had ever heard.

"_Stubborn fool!_"

"What was that?" Ed asked, and Annora glanced over at him curiously before she rolled her eyes.

"Ed, stop stalling and just get in the tub. You have two choices; you can do this willingly, or you can have Winry and I strip you down to your boxers and throw your scrawny butt into the tub. Either way, you still have to get in the juice."

The teenage alchemist glanced over at Winry, and realized that both girls were serious. With a defeated sigh, he grudgingly began to pull off his shirt as the two strong-willed females vanished behind the sheet that they had erected to give Ed some semblance of privacy. Within a few moments, Al came in and stood next to the tub just as Ed was easing himself into the tomato juice.

"Al, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, Brother, but Winry and Annora, they told me to make sure that you got in," Al muttered apologetically. "They also told me to bring the clothes that you were wearing out so they could clean them."

Ed rolled his eyes and sighed as Al gathered up his 'skunked' clothes and exited the curtained off bathing area.

"Why is it that this stuff always happens to me?" he muttered as he began to scrub himself thoroughly.

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"Wow, I wasn't sure it would work, but it did!" Winry exclaimed as she looked at the clothing that was hanging on a line outside. "Usually it takes months to get that skunk smell out of clothing, but if you just wash them in a baking soda solution, it comes out right away!"

Annora grinned in response as the two girls headed back inside; leaving Ed's cleaned clothing out to dry.

"The only reason I remember what to do was because my brother got sprayed by a skunk once when he was out in our backyard fooling around," Annora admitted sheepishly. "We didn't have any tomato juice, so my parents made him sleep out back in a tent for the night. The next morning, my dad went and bought some juice, and Ethan had to take a bath out in the yard while my mom burned the tent because it smelled so bad. I kept teasing him about how he smelled like a vegetable stand until he got so mad that he went and took a regular shower."

"Sounds like you and your brother get along well," Winry pointed out, and Annora just shook her head and laughed.

"Sort of, but we still get on each other's nerves all the time. With Ethan, he always plays the 'overprotective big brother' card, and it drives me **nuts**."

At that moment, a loud buzzing noise echoed in the living room, and Annora glanced over at her laptop case, which was vibrating wildly.

"Crap," she muttered as she picked it up and unzipped the case, removing her laptop from inside of it before going into the kitchen and setting it down on the table. Winry's eyes widened as she stared in astonishment at the gleaming piece of technology that lay in front of her before an eager gleam entered her eyes just as Annora flipped her laptop open.

"Oooohh! What's that?! Can I take it apart?" Winry suddenly babbled excitedly, her eyes shining like small blue stars. Annora stared at her in disbelief before she regained the use of her voice.

"No, you can't! That's my laptop, and if you even **touch **it, I swear I will kill you in the most painful way possible!" she stated in a no-nonsense tone of voice just as her web-cam flicked on, and the image of a young man with sandy blonde hair wearing desert camouflage clothing popped up on the screen. The man watched the argument between the two girls for several seconds before he cleared his throat loudly. Annora turned around and looked at him, her brown eyes widening in surprise before she said anything.

"Ethan?"

"The one and only," Ethan Thomas declared proudly, his usual smirk flickering on his lips. Annora sat down in a chair right in front of her computer and stared at her older brother, her mouth moving wordlessly. Ethan looked at her for a few moments before he made a comment.

"So Annora, who's your friend?" he asked. Annora snapped out of her dazed state and immediately introduced Winry.

"Oh, sorry. Ethan, this is my friend Winry Rockbell. Winry, this is my older brother Ethan."

Winry shot the other girl a confused look. "Your brother is a machine? What did you do, bind his soul to this-"

"No, there's a camera on the computer that he's using that sends his image to my computer, and visa versa, that way we can talk to each other, even though we're not in the same time zone," Annora explained hastily before Winry could finish. Ethan arched an eyebrow in question at her sudden babbling, but instead asked something else.

"Actually, Annora, I wasn't talking about her. I was talking about the guy standing right behind you with the red shirt," he stated in a deceptively calm voice. Annora's eyes widened before she turned around to see Ed standing right behind her with a towel around his neck and his still damp hair in a braid while wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with a white stripe down the sleeves and black pants. The boy was currently staring at Ethan with a mixture of loathing and skepticism, although he looked slightly taken aback as well at Ethan's statement.

"Oh God," Annora moaned as she buried her head in her hands. "This is **not** happening. Please, someone tell me that this is a dream. I am **not** being asked this."

"Sorry, God's busy. How may I help you?" Ethan asked sarcastically as he gave his younger sister a penetrating look. "So, is there a little something that you forgot to tell me in your last letter, hmm?"

"Ethan, he is just a friend!" Annora snapped as she glared at her brother. "God, you are so paranoid!"

"I'm only concerned about the well-being of my only little sister."

"Well your 'little sister' is about ready to catch the next flight out to Iraq, hunt you down, and kick your ass so hard that you won't be able to sit down without wincing for a month!"

"Temper, temper," Ethan chided, although the roguish grin on his face indicated otherwise. "Such language for a young lady, especially from my sister. I'm appalled."

"Yeah, well you're going to be dead meat if you don't cut the crap, Ethan," Annora snarled. "Stop making comments about my friends, okay?"

"Fine, I'll stop," the twenty-year old admitted before he sent a piercing glare in Ed's direction. "I'll tell you right now, boy, that if you even think about trying anything with my sister, I will **personally** rip off both of your family jewels and stuff them down your throat before-"

"ETHAN!!" Annora shouted, her cheeks turning red in mortification as she fought the urge to strangle her older brother. "Conversation ending now!"

With that parting comment, she reached out and turned off her computer, closing the lid with a little more force than what was needed. After taking a few seconds to calm down, Annora turned around in her seat to face Winry and Ed, only to find that the latter of the two was extremely pale.

"Sorry about that," she muttered as she gave an exasperated sigh. "God, I hate it when he does that!"

"So that's… your brother?" Ed finally asked. Annora nodded as she massaged the bridge of her nose in obvious aggravation.

"Yeah, and he is also the very _definition_ of the word 'moron'. In fact, that's why we _have_ the word 'moron', because no one thought '_idiot'_ was strong enough to describe him," she muttered under her breath.

"Personally, I think 'moron' is too nice of a word for him…"

"Ed!" Winry scolded, her blue eyes flashing. Ed looked over at her and shrugged just as Annora responded.

"Actually, Winry, I have to agree with Edward. Moron is far too nice."

"How about stupid? Not the brightest bulb in the socket? Not the sharpest knife in the drawer? A hazard to the entire world that should be removed, preferably as soon as possible?" Ed continued, only to stop at the death glare that Winry was giving him. Annora just gave a short, sardonic laugh as she shook her head.

"All of the above," she pointed out as she leaned back in her chair. "It's not that I don't care about my brother, it's just that I hate it when he gets all overprotective. It's annoying as hell."

"So I take it that conversation like the one you just had are common?" Ed asked quizzically. Annora looked over at him and nodded.

"Yes, unfortunately. If my dad had been here, it would have been a different story, but as you can obviously see, he's really overprotective."

"How can you live with that?!" Ed exploded, only to have Annora look up and give him a satanic grin in response.

"Blackmail mostly," she admitted with an impish look dancing in her eyes. "But sometime I drag higher forces, aka my parents, in as well."

"Blackmail?" Ed and Winry both asked. Annora gave them both a highly unsettling smirk as she began to list off items using her fingers.

"Yeah, let's see… I've got pictures, voice recordings, video clips, and written documents on different things that Ethan's done over the years when my parents haven't been home, and all of them are things that my brother would much rather have my parents **not** know about. So, I guess that you could say that if Ethan **really** pisses me off, he's screwed."

Ed and Winry's jaws were both on the verge of hitting the ground as they stared in disbelief at Annora. Finally, Winry regained the use of her voice as she gave Annora a slightly wary look.

"Do you do this with your friends too, or…" she trailed off nervously. Annora gave the girl an incredulous look before she burst out laughing.

"No, Ethan is the only one that I do that too, and the only reason is because he gives me no breathing room whatsoever. If I tried to get the best of him physically, he'd wipe the floor with me," Annora admitted. "He's the one that taught me how to fight, and he's still better at it than me."

Winry looked thoughtful for a few moments before her expression brightened.

"Why don't we just drop the subject and talk about something more pleasant?" she suggested. Annora and Edward both nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, all this talk about annoying older brothers is wearing me out," the sixteen-year old admitted as she stood up and put her laptop away. Winry grinned brightly at her in response as she suddenly pulled out a vast array of delicate looking tools from out of nowhere.

"Then you won't mind if I take a peek at your computer than, will you?" she asked. Annora stared at her like she had lost her mind before she exploded.

"Hell no! If you even **think** about touching my laptop, I will string you up out in the middle of the forest by your own intestines and slather you in something that bears find appetizing! That's a fifteen hundred dollar computer! My parents would **kill** me if something happened to it!!"

Ed looked at the arguing females in front of him before he gave an amused snort.

"If it's not automail, then it's something else, huh Win?" he muttered. Winry looked over at him and made a face.

"You're the one who keeps saying that he wants to get his body back to the way it was," she pointed out. "Seriously Ed, why go to all this trouble just for human limbs? You've got the smell of oil, the creak of synthetic muscles, the hum of spinning bearings. Who needs natural when you've got automail?!"

Annora looked over at Winry, mentally deciding that the girl was obsessed with mechanics in the same way the Katie was obsessed with Mustang and Envy. She quietly began to back away slowly just as Ed made a sarcastic comment.

"Looser machine junkie."

The young mechanic turned an intriguing shade of red in response before her temper got the better of her.

"Alchemy freak!" Winry shrieked as she whipped out her wrench and smashed it into Ed's head with a sickening 'crack'. Annora decided that it was time to go find Alphonse, who was probably out playing with the new puppy that had recently been dubbed 'Twilight', and beat a hasty retreat outside.

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Ed gripped the seat of his chair tightly with his left hand as he glared balefully at the two automail limbs that were about to be reattached. Winry had taken off his arm to do routine maintenance only a few hours before, and now both his arm and leg were ready to be reattached. The teenage alchemist closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, mentally preparing himself for the shooting pain that he knew was sure to follow. He **hated** it when his nerves were connected; it hurt like **hell**.

"**YEEOUCH!!!"**

Annora jumped a good foot in the air at Ed's cry of pain, almost dropping the glasses of water that she held in her hands in surprise as she entered the examination room. The sixteen-year old stared at the sight before her with wide eyes; Ed was sitting on a chair wearing only a pair of black shorts with a look of intense pain and exasperation on his face while Winry and Pinako finished connecting his automail to the rest of his body.

"Umm…what just happened?" she asked as she looked around. "It sounded like someone was being murdered in here."

"You hear that Ed? You scream too loud," Winry pointed out good-naturedly as she put the metal plate covering the artificial nerves on and tightened the bolts that held it in place.

"Shut up," Ed growled as he sat up straight and flexed his arm and leg experimentally to make sure that they worked. "It's not my fault that it feels like I got hit by lightning every time that you connect the nerves."

Winry raised an eyebrow delicately and waited until Pinako had left the room before she responded to the boy's jab.

"Listen to me, Ed, because I'm only going to say this once," she muttered as she grabbed the alchemist by his automail arm. "You so much as _scratch_ this, I will wrench you. You _**break**_ this, and I will wrench you until you get a clear view of what the afterlife looks like. Got it?"

Ed went an interesting shade of white as he nodded empathetically in response. Annora nervously scooted over to where Al stood and whispered to the fifteen-year old.

"What is the moral of this story you may ask? Don't piss off a girl with a wrench."

Alphonse almost lost it as he tried not to laugh, although a strangled giggle did echo from within his armor. This small noise immediately attracted the attention of Ed and Winry, causing both of them to glare over at Al and Annora.

"What's so funny?" Ed growled as he stood up. Annora gave a very nervous laugh as she took several precautionary steps backwards.

"Umm…nothing," she muttered as she racked her brain for a way out of the dangerous situation that she had found herself in. Fortunately for her, Al intervened.

"Brother, why don't we go spar to make sure that your arm and leg are working?" he suggested hastily. Ed glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow in question before he agreed. Within five minutes, both Annora and Winry found themselves sitting out on the front porch watching the two brothers go at it.

"What is it with boys and trying to beat the shit out of each other?" Annora mumbled to no one in particular. Winry gave the other girl a questioning look, obviously not quite understanding her comment.

"Ed and Al do this all the time," she pointed out. "They told me once that they spar daily whenever they had some spare time, because they follow the motto of 'To train the spirit, you must also train the body'. That's why they're doing this right now."

Understanding dawned upon Annora's face as she returned her attention back to the sparring match. At that moment, the fight went from friendly sparring to downright dirty fighting when Ed skidded backwards, picked up a huge handful of mud and other assorted muck, and threw it at Al, where it hit him full in the helmet. Everyone froze as the possessed suit of armor reached up and slowly wiped the muck off of his helmet.

"You shouldn't have done that," he stated in a strangely calm voice before he lunged for Ed and threw him over his shoulder. Ed immediately got up and adopted a defensive position.

"Hey Al, is that the best you've got?!" Ed shouted from his spot, his customary smirk in place. The fifteen-year old stared at him as his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You must like flying through the air, Brother."

Annora and Winry both burst out laughing at the sight of Ed being sent flying a good twenty feet with one well-timed move from Al.

"Ouch," Annora muttered, wincing when Ed almost collided head-first with a full water bucket. "That had to hurt."

"No kidding," Winry agreed before turning around and heading back inside. "I need someone else to help with making dinner. Do you want to do it?"

"Sure."

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Muah hah ha haaa!!! Chapter nine is finally here! Okay, I need to clear up a little misunderstanding about the drawing contest. So far, I've only had one applicant, but also, you have to actually **enter** a drawing before you can send in a description of your character, and that's only if you're in the top three. Sorry if I confused anyone.

And now… REVIEWS!!! Oh, and I now have a one-shot with Ed and Annora up called 'In Another's Shoes'. Please read it and tell me what you think.

**Reviews:**

Kamisori Kaze no Renkijutshi: Yeah, those were Breaking Benjamin lyrics. They're one of my favorite bands. I know that the scene with Scar was a little freaky. But, knowing me, I'd probably say something stupid to Scar and have to run for my life, although I would go somewhere where he would have a hell of a time finding me.

rockleefan: I'm glad that you like my story, and I'm glad that you agree with me. I try extremely hard not to make Annora have any Mary Sue tendencies, but sometimes it's hard. To quote one of my earlier reviews, Mary-Sue's make good transmutation fodder.

Mimori Kiryu: Thank you for taking the time to correct me on that one. Crap, I didn't know that. Looks like I need to watch the episodes with Scar in them again. I like EdxOC pairing too, because there really is no one in the series that seems to go with him. I don't mind Winry, but I think that she's more suited for Al, not Ed.

animemaniac-101: I love to torment Mustang; it's one of my favorite pastimes. (Smirks) He's not exactly a character that I hate, but he's just really annoying, not to mention an egotistical git that needs a good swift kick in the pants.

animeroxsmyworld: Yeah, the Colonel will need every scrap of speed to get away from Hawkeye and her impeccable aim.

Syldoran: Ah, yes, the fatheads of the world unite. I personally wish that all flamers would do something to piss off Mustang or Scar, that way we could all just sit back and watch them try and run for their lives. Yes, I am evil. ;3 Thanks for the compliment, and the drawing as well. They really made my day.

endmylifeatTwilight16: I'm glad that you love it.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: Yet another person that agrees with me on my personal opinion. Thank you. Knowing me and my writing tendencies, Annora probably **will** end up with Ed, but I'm not positive. And even if I was, do you really think that I would tell you and ruin the whole story?

Kyuuketsuki: Why thank you. (Blushes)

richard9311: Thanks. I'm glad that you still read this, even after my three month period of not updating.

just another FMA fan: You know how if you're having a slightly bad day, the stupidest thing will piss you off? I wasn't entirely upset at you, but at another person as well. This stupid flamer git sent me a PM telling me how my fic sucked, and I kind of lost it. All I'm gonna say is that the response that I sent to this individual was not G-rated, and that the basic gist of the message is that if they don't like my story, tough, and if they wanted to find a real author, they could go to the public library instead of bugging me. I don't mind the fact that you're an EdxWin fan, and I respect your opinion, but please don't tell me what to do.

FriendlyFangirl88: Thank you very much. I'm glad that I was able to accurately capture the mood of FMA.

Siacatmesecat: Yeah, it took some thought, but I think that I did a good job on Annora's response to Scar's little spiel. I know that if I had been in her situation, I probably would have gone off on him.

The Shadow 111: I'm glad that I can keep Ed in character. It's a little hard sometimes, but it's well worth the effort.

The lyrics to _Diary of Jane_ belong to Breaking Benjamin. I don't own iPod or ZEN, much less Ed, Al, or any of the other FMA characters. That honor belongs solely to Hiromu Arakawa- sensei, and if I did, do you think that I would be writing this?

Lawyer: You need to say it.

Wandering Hitokiri: Say what?

Lawyer: That you don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Wandering Hitokiri: Were you not paying attention?! I just said that!!

Lawyer: No you didn't.

Wandering Hitokiri: (Pulls out katana) Aku Soku Zan. (Beheads lawyer) Okay, now I feel better. (AN: Aku Soku Zan means 'swift death to evil' and was the code of the Shinsengumi.)


	10. Chapter Ten: Pickpockets and Automail

**Chapter Ten:**

**Pickpockets and Automail**

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No, it's not!"

"Yes, she is!"

"Listen Annora, we are not bringing that damn dog with us!!"

Annora glared at Ed as she held Twilight protectively in her arms, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Ed, we are bringing Twi with us," she stated in a no-nonsense tone. The alchemist rolled his eyes as he turned around and walked away.

"No, we're not, and that's final," he told Annora over his shoulder. "If you haven't noticed, Al and I travel around a lot, and that means that we can't take care of an animal."

Annora shot a dirty look in the alchemist's direction as she set the black and white puppy down on the floor.

"Who said that you would be taking care of her? I've had a dog before; I know what to do."

"Both of you, knock it **off**," Winry interjected suddenly, stepping in between the two arguing teenagers with a wrench raised threateningly. "Ed, I'll take care of Twilight, and that way Annora can pick her up when you guys go back to Central, okay?"

Ed glanced over at his childhood friend with a slightly wary expression on his face before he hastily agreed.

"Okay, fine."

Annora shot Winry a thankful look in response as the other girl grinned at her. Ed, on the other hand, looked far less than thrilled at the prospect. The teenage alchemist scowled as he turned around and stalked off in the direction of his room. Annora and Winry both raised their eyebrows as they watched Ed go up the stairs before Annora glanced over at Al.

"Hey, Al, what's up with Ed? He's acting almost like he expects the Grim Reaper to pop up and take him."

Al sweatdropped at the remark that the teenager had made before he answered her question in a somewhat evasive tone.

"It's not that, Brother's just nervous about meeting someone in the South. We need to go and ask her some questions, and the last time we saw her… well, it was very memorable," the fifteen-year old muttered. Annora's eyebrows shot up even higher into her hairline as she gave Al a skeptical look before she shrugged.

"Alright, if you guys don't want to tell me right now, that's fine," she pointed out as she headed outside to play with Twilight. "Just do me a favor and warn me if I'm going to have to dodge airborne projectiles or the like **before** I get hit by something."

The sixteen-year old sat down on the front steps and watched Twilight race around the yard annoying Den, although she wasn't exactly paying any attention to the puppy-induced chaos that was taking place in front of her. Annora rested her chin in her hand and stared straight ahead as her mind went back to thoughts of home.

'_I can't believe that it's almost been two months since I left home. Almost every day I used to wake up and think that this was all a dream, but now I've almost accepted the fact that I'm in some weird world where alchemy actually exists. Has anyone besides Katie even noticed that I'm gone?'_

Annora's eyes widened at the thought before she buried her head in her hands and groaned.

"Aw shit, Mom and Dad have to be freaking out by now after not hearing from me for almost two months!"

It was at that moment that her cell phone started to ring, startling the teenager out of her thoughts. Not noticing the fact that a certain alchemist was standing right behind her and had been for some time, Annora pulled her cell phone out from the front pocket of her jeans and looked at it. Shock flooded through her when she caught sight of the phone number, and she immediately flipped open her cell phone and answered it.

"Dad?"

"Hey Annora, how are you? Your mother and I were wondering how you've been doing lately, and we decided to call."

Annora gave a weak smile in response before a thought came to her. "Wait, you guys aren't back yet?"

"No, sorry love, but we won't be back in the states until the beginning of February at least, and it's only the middle of December right now," her father told her. Annora slumped with disappointment at the statement before she decided to change the topic.

"So, how's China?" she asked brightly. A small grin made its way across her face when her father let out a heartfelt groan.

"Don't even get me started," he muttered. "I swear that if I ever get my hands on the sick and twisted prick that sent your mother and I over here to arrange trade agreements between our company and its Chinese equivalent, they won't be able to sit down without wincing for a month."

"Poor you," Annora said teasingly. "I'm sorry that you and Mom are stuck over there for another two months."

"It may be even longer," her father pointed out darkly. "By the way, where are you? When I called the house, you didn't pick up."

Annora froze as she tried to think of a valid excuse, only to almost jump out of her skin when Ed sat down on the steps next to her. The teenage alchemist raised an eyebrow when he saw the startled look on the girl's face.

"Who are you talking to?" he asked, and Annora immediately got an idea.

"My dad's on the phone right now," she pointed out before returning her attention to her conversation. Her father immediately questioned as to who she was talking to.

"Annora, who was that?" he stated in a strangely calm tone. Annora's eyebrows shot up into her hairline as she looked at her cell phone before she answered.

"That's my friend Ed. We're over at his house studying for a science quiz."

"Ed huh? I assume that's short for Edward, correct?"

"Yeah… he's in a couple of my classes at school, and he just recently moved here from Colorado. Katie knows him too if you want to ask."

By this point, Ed was thoroughly confused because he was only hearing about half of the conversation. The teenage alchemist was staring at Annora like she had lost her mind as her father chuckled and quizzed her on her earlier statement.

"It would seem that you like this boy if you're so ready to defend him," he pointed out. Annora flushed an interesting shade of red as she made a strangled noise before she managed to respond.

"Dad, he's just a friend!!"

"Sure he is," he muttered amusedly. "Well, Annora, it looks like I have to let you go. I hope that your mother and I can come home soon, and give my regards to your friend. Love you."

And with that comment, he hung up.

Annora stared at the phone in her hands before she snapped it shut and put it back in her pocket with a sigh. Ed watched her in obvious interest before he ventured to ask a question.

"Uhh… what was that all about?"

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Annora turned an even more interesting shade of red as she looked away from Ed. "That was just my dad… being my dad… that's all."

Ed raised an eyebrow in interest before he shrugged and stood up. "If you say so. Oh, by the way, we'll be leaving for the train station in an hour and a half, so if you don't want to get left behind I would suggest that you get your stuff packed up."

"Just can't wait to get on the road again, huh?" Annora muttered dryly as she stood up and headed inside. "Out of curiosity, where are we going?"

"Dublith; it's a city in the south, and it's **hot** in the summer. A hell of a lot better than Central where it's so cold that you can freeze your ass off just by opening a window."

"Says the weenie country boy who hates having fun," Annora mumbled under her breath. "Besides, Ed, it's the middle of winter right now. It's supposed to be cold."

Ed stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her, an irritated look shining in his golden eyes.

"What was that?" he growled. Annora looked slightly surprised before she smirked at the teenage alchemist.

"You heard me, hobbit boy."

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT A GOD DAMMNED HOBBIT!!!"

"You know, when you deny it so loud, it just makes that statement even truer."

"SHUT UP!!!"

"Make me, killjoy."

A loud snapping sound was heard, and Annora was forced to run for her life as Ed transmuted his automail arm into a blade. Winry and Al both watched from the window as Ed chased Annora all over the yard until finally the girl ran over to a large oak tree and scrambled up to the highest branch that would still hold her weight and not break. Ed stood at the base of the tree and glared up at Annora, who was clinging to a branch about halfway up the trunk as though her life depended upon it.

"Get down here!"

"Not on your life!!"

"How about you come down willingly before I take drastic measures?!"

Annora scowled as she shot the alchemist a dirty look. "Ed, every measure you take is drastic!"

"Just get down here before you fall and break your neck!!" Ed snapped, his eyes flashing with irritation before he added in an undertone. "Or before I break it for you."

"I heard that!!"

"Good, then you know I'm serious!!"

"Yeah, well I'm serious about living long enough to get my damn drivers license!! Now piss off before I throw something at you!"

"What, an acorn? Annora, just come down here before I go up there and get you!"

"Why don't you lose the sword-arm first, and then maybe we'll talk. Until then - Ed, what are you-? Oh no, you wouldn't. Ed - Ed put the sword down, now. Aw shit!"

Ed had just swung back and was about to start chopping down the tree when Annora jumped down, and landed right on top of him. The two teens fell to the ground with a loud 'whump', raising a large cloud of dust as a result. Not surprisingly, Annora was the first one to recover and she immediately took off like a shot before Ed could regain his senses.

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Ed scowled as he drummed his fingers restlessly along the wooden frame of the windowsill to the sleeper car that they were in. Usually he would have just gotten tickets for him and Al in the main part of the train, but when Winry had found out that he had meant to go straight to Dublith, a three-day trip by train, she had politely insisted that he at least invest in a room on a sleeper car while gripping a wrench tightly in her right hand. He glanced over at Annora, who was sound asleep and snoring softly on the top bunk, her right hand resting lightly on a thick hardcover book that she had been reading before she had dozed off.

Al looked over at him curiously. "Brother, what's wrong?"

"I'm not really sure," the elder Elric admitted hesitantly. "Maybe it's just that I'm nervous about going to back to see Teacher, but I can't really shake the feeling that something's not quite right."

"What doesn't feel right, Brother?"

"I don't know; that's what's pissing me off!" Ed growled angrily as he clenched his hands tightly into fists. "It's just some sort of… sense that something bad is going to happen, but I don't know what or when!"

At that point, Annora cracked an eye open and looked at the two brothers groggily.

"What's going on?" she mumbled as she sat up and ran a hand through her hair.

"Brother's being paranoid," Al supplied before Ed had a chance to make something up.

"I am not paranoid!" Ed gritted out just as Annora lightly kicked him in the back of the head. "Hey, what was that for?!"

"Knock it off, will you?" Annora pointed out in obvious exasperation. "You've been in a pissy mood all day, and to be honest, I'm sick of it. I know that we're all tired and we've been traveling almost all day, but look on the bright side; in another two days, we'll be in this town that you talked about, and then you'll be able to ask this person your question. Until then, though, just chill out."

Ed shot her a filthy look in response, and Annora just responded by rolling her eyes.

"What was that look for? It's not like I burned up all the rum or something."

"You did what with what?" Ed asked in obvious confusion, earning a look of absolute disbelief from Annora.

"How can you not know about Pirates of the Caribbean?" she asked, only to have Ed shake his head. "You speak blasphemy!!"

"You talk about a lot of crap that I have absolutely no idea as to what the hell it is," Ed pointed out scathingly. "Why should this be any different?"

Annora ignored the jab as she climbed down from the fold-out bunk and retrieved her laptop from under the bottom bed that Ed was using, quickly opening it up and placing it gently on a tiny table right across from the beds.

"Okay, both of you need to prepare for an education in the fine art of Disney's only PG-13 movie, well, at least before the second Pirates was made," the sixteen-year old stated with an amused grin on her face as she opened up a movie file and hit 'play'. The girl motioned for Ed and Al to join her on the bottom bunk just as the opening credits started. The two boys exchanged hesitant looks before they went over and sat down, although Al was the only one that noticed the evil grin that flickered across Annora's face.

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**Two hours, multiple innuendos, and countless zingers later**

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Annora smirked in triumph as she watched Ed stare at the compute screen in obvious bewilderment. The teenage alchemist had been rendered completely speechless at the first eunuch comment near the beginning during the sword fight between Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, much to Annora's intense amusement. The girl silently thanked any nearby celestial beings for Al's innocent mind, seeing as the fifteen-year old stuck inside an empty suit of armor had not gotten any of the hidden meanings behind some of the comments made. Ed, on the other hand, had understood each and every single one of them.

"This is a kid's movie?!" he demanded in disbelief, his golden eyes flashing angrily. "What the hell were those people thinking when they wrote this?!"

"Hey, if you think this one is bad, the second Pirates is worse. They have an unspoken ball joke in there," Annora pointed out with a shrug. "But you have to admit, this movie is pretty funny."

Ed stared at her for a few moments before he crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. Annora arched an eyebrow in question when she heard the boy mutter something under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked calmly, not expecting a civil response. Ed glanced over at her and gave the teenager an impish grin, obviously relishing the opportunity of catching the girl off guard.

"I said, 'but why is the rum gone?'" he pointed out mischievously. Annora stared at Ed in blatant astonishment for several seconds before she started laughing.

"You little shit, you did that on purpose!"

"Why else would I have done it?"

Annora gave the teenage alchemist a searching look before she shrugged. "I don't know, but I guess the reason that I didn't expect you to say something like that was because I kind of thought that you were… well… a stick in the mud."

"Brother has a tendency to give that impression," Al admitted. Annora was forced to stifle a snort of laughter as Ed turned a very interesting shade of red.

"I do not!" he shouted. Annora and Al both burst out laughing at the boy's response, serving to only further irritate Ed. The Fullmetal Alchemist glared at both of them before he turned away and crossed his arms over his chest with an offended huff. Annora grinned and shook her head, deciding that the teasing had gone on long enough. While Al and Ed started arguing at the top of their lungs, she closed down the movie viewing program and opened up her internet link in the hope of distracting the brothers. When she got to her home page, she motioned Ed and Al over before going to Google.

"Check this out you two. You know how I keep saying that I can find out a bunch of information without even going to a library? This is how I do it," Annora explained.

Ed gave the girl a skeptical look before he examined the computer screen closely.

"Huh, for something that can do what you say it can, it sure doesn't look like much," he commented. Annora shrugged as she cast a sidelong glance at the teenager out of the corner of her eye.

"That's because I haven't put anything in to be searched for yet," she pointed out. "For instance, if I type in your name and hit search…"

The sixteen-year old typed the words 'Edward Elric' into the search box and hit enter, and when the search results came up, Annora stared at the screen in absolute astonishment before she let out a low whistle.

"Holy shit, Ed, you just got over six hundred thousand hits on your name…" she breathed as both Ed and Al peered over her shoulders in interest. "If you really want to get technical, there's about 660,000 of them. Holy freaking shit."

"You've said that twice now," Ed pointed out irritably. "What's the big deal anyway? I'm pretty well-known because I'm the youngest State Alchemist in history. The youngest person before me who passed the test was twenty-five."

"No, you don't understand. This is **not** normal. If I searched my name, I'd be lucky to get a hundred hits," Annora explained. "This is insane, absolutely **insane**. I mean, you're on Wikipedia for God's sake! That's a bloody encyclopedia site!!!"

Ed arched his eyebrows in obvious surprise as he leaned forward to look at the computer screen. "Let me see."

"Go ahead, knock yourself out," Annora muttered as she got out of the chair to let Ed go through the Google findings for himself. The teenager clambered back up onto her bunk and was immersed in a book by Clive Cussler, _Shock Wave_, which had been in her backpack, within moments. All was quiet for almost an hour, and Annora was considering putting away her book and going to bed when Ed suddenly let out a startled yelp and pushed himself away from the computer.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Al asked from where he was sitting. Ed could only make a disgusted stammering noise as he pointed at the glowing screen with a shaking finger. Annora raised an eyebrow as she set her book down and got out of her bunk, going over to where the alchemist was seated.

"Alright, what's the big deal?" she muttered as she looked over Ed's shoulder at the computer screen. Annora quickly scanned the web page that Ed had been reading, and her chocolate eyes widened in horror at the passage that she read. The sixteen-year old exploded with a stream of blue-lightning curses, some of them in another language, as she immediately scrolled up, noted the site that the document was located on, and closed the window. Once she had accomplished this task, Annora then turned off her computer and stuffed it back into its fabric carrying case.

"Okay, I think we've had enough fun with the internet and Google for today," she pointed out shakily as she sat down on the bottom bunk and shuddered. After several moments of silence, Ed finally looked over at her accusingly.

"What in the hell was that?"

"How should I know?!" Annora shot back before she buried her head in her hands. "I've never even heard of a website called FanFiction, much less… yaoi. Oh my God, I think I'm gonna hurl."

"**You're** gonna hurl?!" Ed shrieked, his voice rising to an uncomfortably high pitch. "How do you think I feel?!!"

"Well, I know that I'll never be able to look at Colonel Mustang the same way again," Annora muttered. Al gave both of them a curious look.

"Brother, Annora, what's wrong?"

"You **don't** want to know," both teens responded simultaneously in a deadpan tone. Alphonse was extremely puzzled, but he could get nothing out of either of the teenagers for the rest of the night until they went to bed.

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"Remind me again why we're out here being harassed by an entire town of automail junkies," Ed grumbled darkly. Annora sighed and rolled her eyes in response, mentally counting to ten in an effort to keep her temper in check as Al just shook his head. This was the third time in the past half-hour that Ed had made that comment, and Annora was dangerously close to booting the alchemist into the next water bucket that she saw.

"Ed, the reason that we're out here and walking around is because the engine broke down, and it won't be fixed until early evening at best," Annora pointed out calmly. "I don't know about you, but I defiantly don't want to spend the next six hours sitting on a train doing nothing."

"Yeah, well you don't have freak jobs coming up to you and pestering you about your automail every ten seconds," Ed grumbled as he shot a venomous glare at a mechanic that had been following them. The mechanic let out a frightened squawk and scurried away, obviously scared by the death glare that Ed had given him.

"I **hate** Rush Valley," the boy groused as he turned back around. Annora let out another sigh and was just about to say something when a boy maybe a year or two younger than her suddenly bumped into her rudely and tried to disappear into the crowd.

"Hey, wait a minute," the sixteen-year old growled as her right hand instinctively flew to her pants pocket. "That little son of a-"

"What?" Ed asked her, only to have Annora throw her backpack at him and take off running after the other boy.

"Get your ass back here, you little shit!" she shouted, and was rewarded for her efforts by the pickpocket glancing back at her and flinching. "Yeah buddy, I'm talking to you!!"

The boy took off as though the hounds of hell were after him, and Annora muttered an angry curse as she pulled a pair of white gloves out of her jacket pocket, yanked them on, and clapped her hands together before slamming them down onto the ground with all the force that she could muster. A flurry of electric-blue lightning crackled around her hands, and a thick wall of earth erupted from the street directly in front of the pickpocket, causing him to run right into it with a satisfyingly loud 'splat'. Annora deconstructed the wall before she calmly strolled over to the dazed boy and plucked her wallet out of his limp grasp before she put it back in her pocket.

"Don't ever do that again, at least not if you want to live" she warned as she turned around and headed back to where she had left Ed and Al, both of which were staring at her as though they had never seen her before. The older Elric finally regained the use of his voice after a few moments, and even then, it was shaky at best.

"How in the hell-?" Ed began hesitantly before he shook his head and tried again. "How the hell did you just do alchemy without a transmutation circle?"

Annora grinned impishly at him and held up her right hand palm out so that he could clearly see the transmutation circle drawn on the fabric of the white glove that she was currently wearing. Ed's jaw dropped, much to Annora's amusement, while Al just shook his head at his brother's tactlessness.

"Annora, when did you do that?" the fifteen-year old asked as he bent down to get a closer look at the transmutation circles. The girl grinned as she pulled off her gloves and handed them to Al.

"About a week ago," she explained while Al examined the gloves. "That whole mess with Scar, and that little incident with Barry the Chopper when I first came here got me thinking. I mean, I was incredibly **lucky** when I encountered Barry because I at least had the chance to use alchemy to defend myself. But with Scar, we were all too busy running for our lives to even **think** about using it. I noticed how Ed just has to clap his hands together to perform a transmutation, and that got me thinking; maybe if I had gloves or something like that with transmutation circles on them, I could just clap my hands together to do alchemy too."

Ed blinked a couple of times in surprise before he looked over at Annora, clearly impressed.

"Wow, I have to honestly say that I never expected you to think up something like that."

Annora smiled and shook her head as Al handed her gloves back to her before she put them back in her jacket pocket.

"I seem to do that a lot, huh?" she remarked as she raised an eyebrow pointedly. "Although, maybe your problem is the fact that you keep underestimating me."

For once, Ed didn't have anything to reply to that comment. Al chuckled as he mentally added another point to Annora's steadily increasing tally of the times that she had gotten the better of his brother. It was actually good for him, seeing as Al had noticed a difference in his older brother's attitude since Annora had come to stay with them. Maybe Ed would actually calm down a little. A loud angry shout broke through the younger boy's musings, and Al looked over at Ed to see him engaged in yet another argument with Annora. The fifteen-year old sweatdropped as he headed over to break up the fight. Them again, maybe he was wrong.

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Annora laced her fingers together behind her head and glanced over at Ed out of the corner of her eye. The teenage alchemist seemed to be lost in thought as the three of them strolled down the street towards the train station. The entire afternoon had been spent wandering throughout Rush Valley, looking at different goods offered in the small shops that lined the streets and visiting a small restaurant for lunch. Annora frowned as she looked closely at Ed and saw the slightly vacant look in his eyes, along with a large amount of worry.

"Hey Ed, are you okay?" she asked as she caught up to him. When the boy didn't answer, she reached out and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Hello, earth to Edward Elric."

When he didn't respond to her sarcastic statement, Annora reached out and swatted the boy forcefully upside the head. With a startled gasp, Ed was roughly jerked out of his thoughts and looked over at Annora, who was standing in front of him with her arms crossed.

"Hey, what was that for?!" he asked, only to have Annora raise an eyebrow in question.

"Okay, why do you keep spacing out like that?" she demanded. "You're really starting to freak me out here."

"It's none of your business," he grumbled, only to have Annora hit him again. "Hey, stop that!!"

The sixteen-year old scowled as she took a few steps forward and poked Ed in the chest angrily. "I will once you tell me what's wrong, idiot! I don't know when you're going to get this through your thick skull, but anything that's bothering you is going to affect me too, so I have a **right** to know!!"

Just as the argument was about to escalate further, the sounds of mocking laughter reached their ears, and the two teenagers turned around to see two boys and one girl standing around Al on the train platform. The older of the two boys grinned as he kicked Al in the shin, hard, resulting in a loud hollow echo.

"Eh, hear that? He's hollow!" the boy jeered. "Who went and taught this trash can how to walk?"

"Trash can?" Al asked in a quavering voice, clearly upset. Annora frowned as she started over towards the small group, only to find that Ed had already beaten her to it.

"What did you just call my little brother?" he snarled as he approached the boy who had kicked Al, his golden eyes shining with fury. The boy stared at Ed before he glanced back at Al, and then returned his attention to Ed as he gave an incredulous snort.

"He's your **little** brother? Pfft, yeah right. You're so short that you couldn't even hit me in the face if I didn't kneel."

All was silent for about two seconds before Ed went absolutely ballistic.

"WHO DID YOU SAY WAS SMALL LIKE A GRAIN OF RICE AND DOESN'T SHOW UP IN YOUR EYES?!" he raged as he grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt and drop-kicked him directly into a large puddle of foul-smelling mud that was right next to the train station. Annora and Al both flinched when Ed then used alchemy to transmute the muddy water into some kind of sludge that smelled like skunk stink. The remaining boy and girl looked at each other fearfully before they ran off as fast as they could, with their reeking friend not too far behind them. Annora watched the three disappear before she turned around to face Ed and Al.

"Well, that was interesting," she remarked before she started up the steps to get onto the train. Ed silently raised an eyebrow at the teenager's comment, but did nothing. He was too tired to come up with a smart-ass comeback, and all he really wanted to do was sleep. The alchemist had a distinct feeling that he would need every ounce of strength that he could get for tomorrow when he and Al faced their teacher.

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"Wow… so this is Dublith," Annora breathed in awe as she, Ed, and Al exited the train station. "It's beautiful. It almost looks like a part of historic Santa Fe."

The brothers didn't seem to share her enthusiasm. In fact, they looked almost like they were about to go to the gallows. The two boys had been withdrawn and morbid since they had left Rush Valley the afternoon before, and Annora had simply passed it off as them brooding over the whole 'trash can' incident on the platform. However, when Ed seemed incredibly reluctant to turn down a street that lead to a butcher shop, Annora guessed that something was seriously wrong.

"Alright you two, what's going on?" the sixteen-year old demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're acting almost as though we're going to a funeral, so what's wrong?"

There was dead silence for several moments before Al finally gave a roundabout answer to her question.

"Teacher's going to **kill** us," the fifteen-year old whimpered before he whirled around to face Ed. "Brother, I **told** you that we shouldn't have come back!! You remember what Teacher said to us last time!!"

"So? It's not like we're going to get any answers if we don't face our fears and ask her!" Ed shot back angrily. "Besides, do you honestly think that she would kill us?"

"Wait, run that one by me again?" Annora asked as she stared at the two brothers in obvious surprise. "Your teacher said what?"

"Does it really matter?!" Ed snapped, his eyes flashing. "We just need to go ask our old alchemy teacher something; that's it!!"

"Right, and pigs fly," Annora growled as she got directly in front of Ed and glared at him. "What the hell is going on? Tell me the truth; **now**."

"It's none of your damn business!!"

**POW!**

Ed stared up at Annora in shock from where he lay flat on his butt in the dust as the girl glowered at him, her chocolate eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Edward, you have exactly two seconds to tell me what the hell's going on before I smack your ass straight into the middle of next week!!" Annora snarled, fire practically shooting from her eyes as she stared intently at her friend. Ed let out a nervous gulp as he stared at the furious girl; at the moment, Annora held a distinct resemblance to Winry at her worst.

"Al, a little help here?" the alchemist asked, only to have his younger brother shake his head and scoot away fearfully. Annora arched an eyebrow as she sent a scathing look in Ed's direction, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Your two seconds are up. Any last words before I see you again next week?" she asked in a warning tone as she took a meaningful step forward. Ed swallowed nervously again and was about to answer when a loud voice suddenly sounded out from right behind Annora.

"HEY THERE EDWARD!!"

"**Yahhh!!**" Annora yelped as she jumped roughly a foot in the air before she whirled around to face the twenty-something man that had startled her. "Don't do that!"

Mason blinked in surprise before he looked around Annora at Ed.

"Who's this?" he asked, pointing at Annora. Ed opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off once again by Mason.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"NO!!" they both yelped instantaneously as Ed shot to his feet and glared at the older man while Annora turned an interesting shad of red. Mason glanced from Ed to Al, and then over at Annora with raised eyebrows before he just shrugged.

"Are you guys here to see Izumi again?"

"Umm… yeah, we want to ask her something," Ed muttered, looking decidedly nervous. Mason grinned as he turned around and headed over in the direction of the butcher shop.

"That's great! I'll go tell Sig and Izumi that you're here!"

"Wait, Mason, don't-" Ed stammered, only to find that the man had already entered the butcher shop and was conversing animatedly with someone inside. The teenage alchemist stared in the direction of the door before he groaned and slapped his face with his left hand.

"Shit, we are so dead," he muttered morbidly. Annora stared at him like he had lost his marbles as she calmly crossed her arms over her chest.

"Geez, what's your problem?" she demanded. "If you acted like this towards your teacher, I wouldn't blame her for being less than thrilled to see you. Why don't you stop acting like such a negative jackass and go up and be polite for once?"

Ed blinked in surprise and stared at Annora before she grabbed him by the front of his red trench coat and dragged him up to the front door of the butcher shop.

"Wait, Annora, don't do this! You have no idea what you're doing!!" he yelped as he struggled to get away from the girl. Annora shot the alchemist a exasperated look as she shoved him up onto the front step.

"Actually, I do. I'm teaching you a lesson in manners," she retorted, just as Al grabbed her and pulled her off to the side of the house right next to the door. Ed looked over at his younger brother and was about to say something when the front door opened and an intimidating looking woman stepped out onto the front steps.

"Umm… hello, Teacher," Ed stammered nervously as he looked up at the woman. "It's nice to see you again."

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Umm... yeah, I know. Evil cliffie. but hey, at least that means that you will all want to read the next chapter, right?

Ed: You wish. Then why is it that I see about ten people over there firing up a calduron full of tar and armed with torches and pitchforks?

Wandering Hitokiri: (Looks over at angry mob) Shit. Wait a sec, how the hell did they find me anyway?! My location is unlisted!!

Ed: (Whistles innocently)

Wandering Hitokiri: (Glares at him) You, you're responsible for this?!

Ed: Maybe.

Wandering Hitokiri: Oh, I loath you. (Lawyer suddenly pops up)

Lawyer: You have to say it!! You have to say that you don't own Fullmetal Alchemist!

Wandering Hitokiri: What... what the hell? You again?! I killed you in the last chapter for God's sake!

Lawyer: Well... (Changes into Envy) Actually, you haven't killed me at all.

Wandering Hitokiri: (Pulls Mustang's gloves on from out of nowhere and incinerates Envy) Now I have.

Woohoo! 104 reviews for nine chapters! I am so psyched! Thank you all so very much to those who reviewed!! Oh, I need a vote as for what will happen later on in the story. For everyone who wants the episodes with Greed to be incorperated into chapter twelve, please tell me so!! Thank you!!


	11. Chapter Eleven: Teacher and stress

**Chapter Eleven:**

**Teacher (and stress)**

"Hello… Teacher…"

Izumi Curtis stared intently at Ed for several moments before her expression darkened, and all hell broke loose.

"What do you think you're doing here?!" she raged as she suddenly kicked Ed forcefully in the face, sending the boy flying a good thirty feet before he crashed down to the ground. Annora fearfully pressed herself up against the wall of the house, praying silently to any kind and loving god that might happen to be in the area that Izumi wouldn't step outside of the front door and see her and Al hugging the wall next to the door.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Al muttered shakily as his entire body quivered violently while Annora went an interesting shade of white when she peeked around the corner and caught sight of the furious look on Izumi Curtis's face. Her right eye developed a noticeable twitch as she nervously glanced over at Al.

"We're gonna die," she muttered faintly as all of the blood drained from her face, no longer paying any attention to the scenario going on only a few feet away.

"I thought that I told you never to come back!!" Izumi growled, her dark eyes flashing with fury as she fixed Ed with a scathing look.

"Teacher…"

"I told you that I am no longer your teacher!!"

The woman froze just as she was about to lecture Ed further when Annora accidentally let out a small cry of fear. Without batting an eyelash, she suddenly reached over and grabbed Annora by the wrist before sending her flying straight into Ed. The two teens collided with a sickening smack before they both collapsed in a heap on the ground.

**WHUMP!**

"Owww…" Ed groaned as he sat up while Annora lay in his lap with her eyes spinning dizzily, barely conscious. "That hurt."

"I think I broke something…" Annora responded faintly as she tried not to pass out. "It might be one of my ribs, but I'm not sure."

Izumi stared at Annora in obvious surprise before she strode over to where the two teens lay and looked at them closely. Ed gently eased Annora off his lap before he stood up, helping the girl to her feet as he did so.

Izumi crossed her arms over her chest as she fixed Ed with a questioning look, not noticing Al sneak up behind her.

"Well Edward, out of all the things that I would have ever expected you to do, bringing a girl with you here certainly isn't one of them. That, and you deciding to become a dog of the military," she pointed out rather nonchalantly. Ed looked rather nervous as he gave a shamefaced shrug.

"Teacher, I said I'm sorry," he muttered, only to be kicked in the face once again by Izumi.

"If 'Sorry' was enough, there would be no need for** HELL**!!" the woman raged, her dark eyes absolutely blazing with uncontrolled fury as she glared at Ed's bruised and bloody form. Annora looked at the older woman for a few seconds before she went and hid behind the safety of Al's armored bulk.

"Scary," she whispered nervously to the fifteen-year old. "Your teacher's really scary."

"You don't know the half of it," Al muttered back.

Izumi waited patiently until Ed had regained consciousness before she asked her next question.

"Did you get her pregnant?" she demanded, glancing over at Annora. Ed stared at his old alchemy teacher for several seconds before he realized what she had just said.

"WHAT?!" he yelped. "What makes you…why… how…?"

"No, I am **not** pregnant," Annora growled as she fought to keep her steadily rising temper in check, her eyes narrowed dangerously as she glared at the older woman. "At least not the last time I checked, seeing as I'm still a v-"

Al clapped a hand over her mouth, cutting the teenager off before she could finish her comment.

"Annora, please don't cause any more trouble than we're already in," the fifteen-year old pleaded. "Teacher's really angry with us this time."

Annora waited until the possessed suit of armor removed his gauntleted hand from her mouth before she responded.

"Why, because you guys came back and she told you not to?"

"Yes," Al whimpered as his entire body shook with fear. "She's **really** mad."

(AN: In this chapter, Ed and Al did **not** come back and tell Izumi that they were sorry and they wanted to know more about alchemy like they did in the anime. They got on the train and went back to Central after that whole mess with Wrath, and therefore did not encounter Greed, **yet**.)

Annora pulled a face as she shot Al a dirty look. "That still doesn't give her the right to assume that the only reason you two came here is because I'm pregnant, which I'm not!"

Izumi heard Annora's little outburst and turned around slowly to face the girl, her dark eyes narrowed dangerously as she scrutinized the teenager closely. Annora looked Izumi straight in the eye, mentally readying herself to have her ass kicked again for shooting her mouth off. Instead, the woman merely crossed her arms over her chest and fixed Annora with a searching look.

"Forgive me for my earlier conclusion," she stated as she stuck out her right hand, which Annora shook after a moment's hesitation. "Usually when my two idiot pupils show up, they're either **in** trouble, or trouble soon follows them."

"Yeah, that sounds like Ed all over," Annora muttered wryly, much to the annoyance of a certain State Alchemist. "Every time we turn around, at least one of us is in deep trouble." _'And the past few times, it's been me,'_ the sixteen-year old thought grimly.

Izumi arched an eyebrow at Annora's response before she sent Ed a piercing look.

"So, would you care to tell me how this young lady came to be in your company?" she asked in a deceptively calm tone. Ed flinched; he remembered that tone all too well. That was his old alchemy teacher's infamous 'tell me what the hell is going on before I beat it out of you' voice, and he knew that his answer was not going to please Izumi one bit.

"Umm… well, something happened in Central a few months ago and… Annora has kind of been in Al's and my custody since then…" Ed trailed off weakly when he caught sight of the murderous expression on Izumi's face. Annora glanced over at the older woman before she subtly scooted behind the closest large tree for cover; and she had thought that her **mom** was scary when she was mad…

"**Custody?**" Izumi snarled, her eyes flashing darkly with uncontrolled fury. "What do you mean by that?!"

Al let out a frightened squeak while Ed shook visibly in his shoes; this had been the part that he had been dreading.

"She was being chased by a homunculus, and the Colonel told Al and I that we had to keep an eye on her…" Ed stammered nervously, only to have Izumi punch him in the face. All the blood drained from Annora's face as she watched Ed go flying before he hit the ground, obviously unconscious. The sixteen-year old was silently contemplating any possible escape routes when Izumi came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder gently. Annora jumped slightly in surprise as she spun around to face the older woman, who merely regarded her with calm interest.

"Why don't we go inside and sit down. I'm sure that there's more to your story than what Edward is tell-" Izumi suddenly erupted into a coughing fit, hastily covering her mouth with both hands. Annora thought at first that the woman had allergies or something along those lines, but when an inhuman amount of blood came up and splattered the ground as Izumi coughed, the teenager knew immediately that something was horribly wrong.

"Ma'am, are you alright?!" Annora cried out as she rushed over to Izumi's side while she fell to her knees, coughing violently. Panic surged through the girl when she recognized the tell-tale signs of one of the most feared diseases in history as she spun around to face Alphonse "Al, get over here!!"

"Teacher!" the fifteen-year old yelped as he ran over towards where Annora and his former alchemy teacher were, only to be bypassed by a familiar burly form. Sig Curtis ran over to his wife's side and picked her up easily in his huge arms, leaving the three teens behind as he carried Izumi inside. Annora glanced over uneasily at Al, while Ed, who was still out cold, groaned.

"What was that all about?" she asked uncertainly. "Does your teacher have …tuberculosis?"

"No, something happened to her when she was younger and… she lost some of her internal organs," Al explained hesitantly as he picked up Ed's unconscious form, giving Annora the distinct impression that the younger boy was hiding something. "That's why she's coughing up blood, not because of tuberculosis."

Annora heaved a sigh of relief just as Mason came out and looked at them curiously.

"Hey, why are you guys still out here?" he asked, clearly puzzled. "Why don't you all come inside; it's chilly out there."

With surprising caution, Al carried Ed into the Curtis's house, followed closely by Annora.

'_Why do I always seem to get myself into these insane situations?'_ the girl groaned mentally as she followed Al. For some strange reason, she had a sinking feeling that this was not going to be a fun visit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ed looked incredibly nervous as he stared at the door to the room where Izumi was currently resting after her 'attack'. Annora and Al were standing behind him, the former with a curiously restrained expression on her face as she fixed Ed with a slightly pitying look.

"Hey, Ed?" she asked hesitantly, catching the teenage alchemist's attention. "Look, I… I'm sorry for dragging you up to the front door earlier."

Ed raised both eyebrows as he gave Annora a slightly smug look.

"Now will you listen to me when I tell you not to do something?" he demanded, only to have Annora scowl and give him 'the finger' in response.

"You jerk! I just apologized to you, and that's the response? What else did you expect me to do; get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness?!"

"That would be nice," Ed shot back sarcastically, watching with obvious interest as Annora's face flushed angrily.

"Screw you!"

"No thanks."

Annora's right eye developed a noticeable twitch as she fixed the boy with a death glare, her patience fraying at a dangerous rate. Just as the girl was about to reach over and wrap her hands around the Fullmetal Alchemist's throat, Izumi's voice came through the door.

"Edward, could you please send your friend in here?"

The blood drained from Annora's face as she regarded the wooden door in front of her in audible horror while Ed looked somewhat nervous. Annora gulped before she took a step forward and grasped the doorknob firmly, pushing the door open and going inside before shutting it firmly behind her. The sixteen-year old looked steadily at the woman lying in bed in front of her, not knowing why she was in here. Izumi raised an eyebrow in question before she spoke.

"Why don't you pull up a chair and sit down?" she asked, indicating to a spot right next to the bed. "No need to be afraid, I don't bite."

'_Yeah right,'_ Annora thought wryly, but she did as she was asked. Izumi waited until the teenager had taken a seat before she spoke.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you would tell me how it came to be that you are now traveling with my idiot apprentices. I could understand it if you were a friend that they had known since childhood, but if I were to go by Edward's earlier statement, that is obviously not the case," the formidable woman pointed out, the tone of her voice indicating that she would not accept any lies. Annora felt a few beads of sweat drip down the back of her neck as she stared at Izumi nervously. She automatically thought back to when Ed had told her not to tell people where she was from, after her little outburst at the Rockbell's.

"_Dammit, Annora! You can't keep insisting that you're from some place in a country that doesn't exist!" Ed pointed out for what seemed like the thousandth time. "People are going to think you're nuts if you keep saying junk like that."_

_Annora groaned and rolled her eyes as she tried not to lose her temper. "So are you trying to tell me that you think I'm crazy?" she snapped waspishly, her eyes flashing darkly with anger._

"_No…" Ed hesitated before he heaved a sigh of obvious exasperation. "Just… keep your hometown to yourself, okay? At least that way we won't have anyone asking funny questions."_

Annora gulped, and was about to make something up when her cell phone started to ring, causing both her and Izumi to jump. The teenager glanced down at her pocket before she gave the older woman an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, please excuse me for a few minutes," she muttered as she got up out of her chair and hastily exited the room, leaving behind a very confused alchemist. Annora ducked outside and stood behind a tree in the front yard before she opened her phone to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively, only to be almost knocked over from the force of the colossal shriek that came from the other end.

"Annora, are you really there?! Are you really in Amestris?!!"

The sixteen-year old stared at the cell phone for a few seconds before it finally registered as to who was calling her.

"Katie?" she asked hesitantly. "How the hell did you manage to call me?"

"I'm calling from my home phone!" Katie announced proudly, to which Annora let out a heartfelt groan. "So, where are you right now?"

"In a torture chamber," Annora shot back sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. Katie let out a horrified gasp at her friend's sarcastic comment, and started to babble uncontrollably.

"Oh my God, we need to get you out of there!! Are you in Lab 5?! Is anyone trying to use you as a test subject?! Have any of those sick military freaks tried to turn you into a chimera?!!"

"Geez Katie, take a chill pill," Annora muttered as she tried not to laugh. "I was being a smart ass, okay? I'm not in mortal danger or anything like that; I'm actually in Dublith with Ed and Al." She paused for a moment before another thought struck her. "What the hell's a chimera anyway?"

"Seriously?" the other girl queried, the tone of her voice somewhat dubious as she ignored Annora's question. "So you've met the Dragon Lady already?"

"The who?" Annora asked incredulously. "Wait a sec; are you talking about Ed and Al's old alchemy teacher?"

"If you mean Izumi Curtis, then yes."

"Why do you call her the Dragon Lady?"

"Because she's friggin' scary!!"

"Okaaay… that makes a **lot** of sense Kate," Annora responded sarcastically. "You don't even know the woman! I think you need to stop reading all of the anime crap or whatever the hell it is, because it's rotting your brain."

"Anime does not rot my brain!" Katie protested angrily.

"I think there are some medical studies that would argue against that statement," Annora muttered under her breath. Katie ignored her friend's comment as she continued to lecture.

"Besides, you don't read anime, you watch it! Manga is the stuff that you read!"

"Big flippin' whoop. Might I also remind you of the fact that you lending me that stupid comic book is part of the reason why I'm in so much hot water in the first place?"

"Don't blame me for your problems! You're the one that's so closed minded!"

"And you're the one that's obsessed with fictional characters that don't exist!!"

"If they don't exist, then where are you now?"

"Probably in the closest loony bin under heavy sedation, which explains the detailed hallucinations."

Katie let out a frustrated growl as she glared at the phone in her hands before she started yelling at a high pitch right into Annora's ear.

"BELIEVE IT OR NOT, YOU **ARE** IN AMESTRIS, SO STOP YELLING AT ME AND ENJOY YOURSELF!!!"

Annora held the cell phone a reasonable distance away from her ear, wincing at the pitch that Katie's voice was going up to. After a few moments, Katie finally ran out of breath, and all the anger and frustration that had been building up inside Annora for the past month and a half came loose as she exploded.

"DAMMIT KATIE, I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE! I'M NOT LIKE YOU, OKAY?! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME AND DO NORMAL STUFF INSTEAD OF HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT THE STUPID FREAK THAT ATTACKED ME MY FIRST DAY HERE, AND HAVING TO DEAL WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER… **CRAP**!! I WANT TO GO HOME!!!"

There was dead silence on the other end of the line, and Annora felt tears of shame well up in her eyes as she tried to get a grip on herself.

"Katie, I miss my house, I miss my parents, I miss everything about home," she sniffed before she gave a dry laugh. "Hell, I even miss school. The truth is… I just wanna go home. I don't belong here. Now you on the other hand, you'd be having the time of your life here."

"I'm sorry Annora… I didn't know that you wanted to come home that badly," Katie admitted hesitantly. "Besides, I don't think I'd be having that much fun without you being here with me."

"Really?"

"Really."

Annora let out a weak chuckle before she gave a faint grin. "Yeah, well if you were here with me, you'd probably be really mad about the prank I pulled on Mustang a few weeks ago."

"What did you do?"

"Besides passing out over two hundred posters of him wearing a miniskirt, and re-gifting a thong that he sent me as payback for the posters to a certain trigger-happy Lieutenant, nothing."

There was another stretch of heavy silence before Katie let out an enraged shriek.

"You did **WHAT?!**"

"Oh wow, would you look at the time? Gotta go, talk to you later!"

"No, we talk NOW!" Katie raged. "What did you do to Roy-kun?!"

"Umm… nothing permanently damaging."

"…"

"Katie… why are you being so quiet?"

"… You should be really glad that you're in Amestris right now, because I'm going to kill you when you get back."

Annora gave a disbelieving snort and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right; you and what army? Katie, all I have to do is duct-tape you to the wall and I'm good."

"Is that your solution to everything?" Katie muttered darkly.

"Yep. Duct tape, bailing wire, and zip ties; the universal solution to every problem," Annora quipped with a smirk on her face. "You can fix pretty much anything with those materials."

A noise behind the girl startled her, and Annora accidentally hit the speakerphone button, causing Katie's portion of the conversation to be heard. Annora spun around to find Ed standing behind her with a strange look on his face, just as Katie continued talking.

"Really Annora, all I need is acid and I'll melt through the duct tape," she rambled while Ed then switched his attention from Annora to the phone.

"Is that your nut-job of a friend?" he asked, and Annora nodded empathetically in response.

"Was that Ed?" Katie asked before she started yelling at the top of her lungs. "**SHUT UP, SHRIMPY, OTHERWISE I'LL SET THE DRAGON LADY LOOSE ON YOU!!!**"

"What?!" Ed yelped, causing Annora to drop her cell phone as she attempted to hold her friend back so he wouldn't mutilate the inanimate piece of technology. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING A SHRIMPY LITTLE MIDGET THAT CAN'T SEE OVER CUT GRASS WITHOUT A STEPSTOOL?!!"

"Shut up, otherwise Izumi'll kick your ass with a spatula!!" Katie shot back. "Beware the wrath of the Dragon Lady!"

Annora was just about to fire back a comment when both teenagers suddenly became aware of a murderous presence behind them. The sixteen-year old gulped before she looked behind her, and went dead white when she saw Izumi standing behind her and Ed with her fists clenched.

"What was that?" she asked deliberately, flames practically fanning out from behind her. Annora, if at all humanly possible, went even whiter as she stared at incensed woman nervously.

"That… that was my friend… she called me… she's heard of you or something… I don't know…" Annora stammered as Ed slowly backed away. He was smart enough to know that all hell was about to break loose, and he did **not** want to be around when that happened. Izumi, surprisingly, merely strolled over to where Annora's phone lay on the grass and picked it up, inspecting it closely before she started shouting.

(AN: All of you who know Izumi really well, you might know what's coming next.)

"**WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, DISRESPECTING YOUR ELDERS LIKE THAT?!! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT ON EARTH POSSESSED YOU TO MAKE UP A NAME LIKE 'DRAGON LADY', AND WHY ARE YOU SPREADING IT AROUND TO MY STUDENT?!! DON'T YOU **_**EVER**_** CALL THIS NUMBER AGAIN; OTHERWISE I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!!!**"

"Yes ma'am," Katie whimpered before she hung up, thoroughly chastised. Annora blinked several times, shaking slightly, before Izumi handed her phone back to her.

"Take care of that," she instructed as she went back inside the house, leaving behind two teenagers that were completely scared out of their minds standing out in the back yard.

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**The next day**

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Ed smirked as he stared at the bottle of shampoo that he currently held in his hands, his golden eyes flashing with demonic humor. So Annora thought that she was the only one that could pull pranks, did she? The teenage alchemist let out a low chuckle as he put his hands together and transmuted the contents to do something entirely different than what the manufacturers had intended. Ed gently set the bottle back down into Annora's backpack, taking care not to disturb anything else.

The alchemist quietly snuck out of the room that Annora was using while they were staying with the Curtis's. That morning Ed had woken up to find magnetic letters stuck to his automail arm, spelling out the word 'tiny'. To put it lightly, he had gone ballistic, at least until he had gotten an **excellent** idea on how to get the girl back.

Now, all he had to do was wait…

Surprisingly, it didn't take that long for Ed's prank to come to fruition; only a few hours at most. The real indication that his trick had worked came while he and Al were downstairs talking to Izumi.

"Teacher, do you believe that… there might be another world out there… beyond the Gate?" Ed asked. Izumi shot her former pupil a strange look in response.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Just out of curiosity!" the teenager protested, suddenly nervous. He **really** did not want to admit that some of the things Annora had told him and Al were unnerving, and she didn't seem like she was crazy. Izumi was just about to answer him when a piercing shriek rent the air, the sound coming from the upstairs bathroom.

"ED, I AM GOING TO **KILL** YOU!!!!"

"Damn!" Ed hissed as he jumped out of his seat and shot for the front door just as Annora came flying down the stairs, her still-wet hair flaring out behind her as she tore after the alchemist. Al blinked in surprise as he stared after the girl, obviously confused.

"Since when was her hair blonde?" he muttered. Sounds from out in the front yard attracted the fifteen-year old's attention, and he and Izumi went over to a window to watch the ensuing chaos taking place.

"Ed, get down here!" Annora snarled, her brown eyes flashing dangerously beneath reddish-blonde bangs as she glared up at the alchemist, who was currently sitting up in a tree.

"Sorry, not gonna happen," the boy shot back, smirking slightly. If looks could mutilate, Al would have been taking his brother's remains back to Colonel Mustang in a matchbox. Annora muttered what sounded like an obscenity under her breath as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at Ed.

"Ed, either come down right now so I can kill you, or I'll come up and make sure that you leave this world screaming like a girl," she hissed. "You had no right to put **hair dye** in my shampoo!!!"

"And you had no right writing 'tiny' on my arm with magnetic letters!" he retorted sharply.

"At least they were removable! Hair dye takes **months** to come out!!!"

"Stop making such a big deal. All I did was change the components in your shampoo; it'll come out in a few days."

"Like hell it will!!!"

Ed made an incredibly rude gesture, serving to only further incense the girl. Annora was contemplating just climbing up after her friend and killing him in the tree with any available materials that might be at hand when an evil idea came to her. The sixteen-year old looked up at the boy and smiled pleasantly before she yanked on her gloves with the transmutation circles on them and clapped her hands together before placing them on the tree trunk. With a sickening 'crack', the part of the branch that Ed was sitting on separated from the rest of the tree and fell to the ground, dumping the alchemist flat on his ass.

The Fullmetal Alchemist sprang to his feet, only to come face-to-face with Annora, who was still smiling. A cold shudder of dread passed through Ed's body as he hurriedly backed up right into the tree he had been sitting in, his wide golden eyes fixed on the girl in front of him. The thought that Annora, in her complete and total rage, had finally lost her mind, came to him, causing Ed to freak out even more.

"I **am** going to get you back for this, Edward," she said sweetly as Ed contemplated scrambling up the tree trunk like a cat just to get away from her. "And when I do, I can assure you that you will **never** forget it in a million years. Until then, you will spend **every**. Single. Moment looking over your shoulder and wondering when the hell I'm going to Kick. Your. **ASS**. Got it?"

Ed let out a frightened squeak in response, which was totally unlike him. Annora seemed to take this as a 'yes', and turned around without another word, going back into the house. Al and Izumi both stared at the girl as she disappeared up the stairs before the younger Elric ventured outside. Ed looked over at his younger brother, and then at his former alchemy teacher before he swallowed loudly.

"Teacher, I think I'm going to sleep outside to night," he stated shakily before he added under his breath. "Where it's safe."

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Surprisingly, Ed slept out in the backyard, not one, but two nights in a row. On the third night, he still didn't want to go back inside to sleep, but Izumi had politely, (politely meaning she had threatened to beat him within an inch of his life), insisted that he sleep inside that night since it was supposed to rain. Al had backed her up, and so Ed found himself sitting in bed staring at the door nervously at two in the morning. The reason he was up and awake at this hour was because his room was just down the hall from Annora's, and he was scared **shitless** at the thought of what the girl might do to him.

_When you feel all alone  
And the world has turned its back on you  
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart _

Just as Ed was about to get up and seal off the door as an extra precaution, he heard footsteps padding down the hall softly. The teenager silently got off the bed and went over to the door, pressing his ear against it in an effort to discern just who or what was roaming about in the middle of the night. After a moment, there were the faint sounds of someone going down the stairs and out the back door. Ed silently debated on finding out who had gone outside, and then decided that it would be better if he just snuck after the person instead of using his usual tactless approach.

It didn't take long for him to go from his room to the back yard, although Ed kept jumping whenever a sharp crack of thunder echoed overhead. Storms had always made him nervous ever since he and Al had tried, and failed to bring their mother back to life. Rain was slamming up against the house in unyielding sheets when the teenage alchemist peeked through the window in an attempt to see if anyone was out back, and Ed could barely make out the blurred smudge of color out underneath one of the oak trees. The next lightning flash lit up the landscape like it was daytime, and revealed the unknown individual to be Annora, huddled up on a large flat rock underneath the tree while watching the storm that raged around her intently.

_I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you  
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold  
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore  
_

"That idiot," Ed grumbled as he opened the door and stepped out into the tempest. "Doesn't she know that the tree she's sitting under could act like a damn lightning rod and electrocute her?"

It wasn't until he got closer that he saw that the girl was shivering violently, her currently pale tresses clinging damply to her face and shoulders as her entire frame shook. The teenage alchemist chose not to say anything as he walked up to where Annora was sitting and sat down next to her.

"You know, you probably shouldn't be out here in your pajamas," he pointed out slowly. "You could get sick."

Annora gave a short, harsh laugh in response as she stared straight ahead, her chin resting on her knees, which were pulled up to her chest as she watched the storm.

_Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn   
You're not alone  
_

"Just leave me alone, okay?" she muttered, her dark brown eyes focused on some point ahead of her. "I'm not in the mood to listen to you lecture me right now."

Ed raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he gave the girl an incredulous look. "I thought you **wanted** an excuse to get in a fight with me. So why are you ignoring the opportunity right now?"

"Dammit Ed, just leave me the hell alone!" Annora growled, chocolate eyes flashing in barely concealed anger as her right hand clenched the loose fabric of her nightgown tightly. "I don't want to talk to you right now!"

_When you feel all alone  
And a loyal friend is hard to find  
You're caught in a one way street_  
_With the monsters in your head_

"Yeah, well you're going to get electrocuted if you don't come inside soon," the teenage alchemist pointed out seriously. "Why are you even out here in the first place anyway?"

A large lightning bolt flashed overhead, lighting up the entire landscape and causing Annora to flinch, before thunder boomed loudly. Ed watched the girl closely as she began to shake slightly once again, her eyes riveted unseeingly on some object in the distance. Recognizing immediately the signs of a waking nightmare, Ed made up his mind and gently, but firmly, placed a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Annora, what's wrong?" he asked. The sixteen-year old didn't answer for a few seconds, but after the next flash of lightning, she finally gave a muttered response.

"I couldn't sleep," she mumbled lamely, her cheeks burning slightly due to how hollow her response sounded even to her own ears. Ed raised an eyebrow skeptically as he gave the girl a knowing look.

"Bullshit," he stated simply. A ghost of a smile crossed Annora's face at her friend's comment before she replied.

"Why yes, bulls do shit. Cows shit too, but they don't brag abut it."

_When hopes and dreams are far away and  
You feel like you can't face the day  
_

Ed blinked before he gave a snort of barely suppressed laughter.

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" he asked after chuckling for a bit. Annora shrugged in response, her expression once again distant.

"I don't know. Just impulse I guess."

The boy gave Annora a searching look, his golden eyes narrowed slightly. Annora didn't pay any attention to him as she stared out at the storm raging around them. For a while neither of them said anything, but after several minutes, Annora began to speak softly.

"Do you ever wonder what's out there that may lie beyond what we see?" she asked quietly. Ed stared at the sixteen-year old like she had taken leave of her senses.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you wonder if there's another world out there, where things that people claim to be impossible here are achievable there?"

_Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn   
You're not alone_

"Not this again," Ed groaned in annoyance as he shook his head. "Haven't you ever heard of flogging a dead horse?"

"Dammit Ed, I'm being serious!" Annora growled as she fixed the boy with an angry glare. "You keep telling me that all of the stuff that I keep repeatedly telling you about where I live either doesn't exist or isn't possible. Haven't I given you enough proof with the textbooks I've showed you and my computer?"

"Your books could have been printed by any idiot desperate enough to make a few sen, and any skilled alchemist could construct something like your computer," Ed pointed out stubbornly. "Not to mention the fact that there's no such thing as another world. That kind of stuff belongs in myths and fairy tales, not the real world. Besides, aren't you a little old to believe in crap like that?"

_Because there has always been heartache and pain  
And when it's over you'll breathe again  
You'll breath again_

Annora turned an interesting shade of red as she fought to not lose her temper, although it was all she could do not to reach out and belt Ed upside the head with her fist. Instead, she let out a frustrated sigh and stood up before heading inside without saying a single word. Ed watched her go with a puzzled look on his face, completely at a loss for why the girl had left.

_When you feel all alone  
And the world has turned its back on you  
Give me a moment please  
To tame your wild wild heart_

Once she had returned to her room, Annora sat down on her bed and pulled her pillow up to her chest, burying her face into its soft surface before she started to cry. She had no idea why it hurt her so badly for Edward not to believe what she said, but that still didn't help get rid of the pain. At that moment, Annora felt more alone and isolated than she had in her entire life. The sixteen-year old cried for several minutes, not only out of sheer frustration, but homesickness as well. She had no friends or family here, and her only connections to the world that she had always known were her cell-phone and laptop. Take those away, and she would never be able to talk to her parents or friends again.

_Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn   
You're not alone_

"I hate this," she finally muttered after all her tears had been spent, and she withdrew her tearstained face from the somewhat soggy pillow. "I'm stuck in another world that supposedly only exists inside of a damn book, the person that I consider to be my friend thinks I'm a whack job, and I keep having dreams about that stupid Gate. Who the hell did I piss off to deserve this?! Every single time I turn around, something else happens, and more bullshit gets thrown at me!"

_Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn   
You're not alone_

Annora choked back a sob as her grip on the pillow tightened, almost as though it were a lifeline.

"I'm tired of this," she whispered into the inky darkness surrounding her, the expression in her chocolate eyes pained. "I want to go home."

'_At first, once I got over the fact that I was inside one of Katie's books, it was fun. But now…'_

When nothing gave her an answer, the teenager lay down on the bed and pulled the covers back over her. Just before she drifted off to sleep, Annora muttered one last thing.

"Please, I just want to go home. That's all I ask."

_You're not alone_

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Ed sat outside in the rain for several minutes, contemplating why Annora had acted the way she did. He was well aware of the fact that as far as a normal teenage boys go, both he and Al were sorely lacking any experience in dealing with girls, aside from Winry that is. But still, Annora's actions defied any and all logic that could possibly be applied to what she was talking about.

"I just don't get her," Ed muttered as he began to massage the bridge of his nose. "I swear that she PMS's every damn day."

The teenager sighed as he watched the storm rage around him for a few more moments before he got up and went back inside. There was no use in him getting electrocuted just because he was brooding outside during an electrical storm.

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The next morning at breakfast, Annora and Ed were both unusually silent. Well, at least Annora was to Ed. The sixteen-year old refused to talk to the alchemist unless she absolutely had to, and this was immediately noticed by Izumi and Al. After breakfast, Izumi pulled her former pupil aside and began to interrogate him.

"Alright, Edward, what's going on?" the woman demanded as she forced him to sit down. Ed shrank down in his chair, watching his alchemy teacher nervously.

"What are you talking about, Teacher?" he asked, only to be silenced by the piercing glare that she shot at him.

"I believe you know exactly what I'm talking about. Your friend seems to be incredibly reluctant to speak to you, and I'm curious as to why."

Ed winced at Izumi's statement; he hadn't realized that it was that obvious. Izumi arched a dark eyebrow delicately as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well?"

"We… had an argument," Ed finally admitted. "That's probably why she's mad at me."

"About?"

"Something stupid."

Izumi let out a soft sigh as she closed her eyes. She knew that Edward could be blunt sometimes, but this obviously went far beyond that. Opening her eyes, the alchemist fixed her student with an intense look.

"One thing you need to learn, Edward, is that it can be very hurtful when you try to confide in a friend, and they won't listen to you," she pointed out sternly.

Ed's golden eyes widened in shock as he stared at his alchemy teacher as she turned around and walked away, leaving him to mull over what she had just told him.

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Woohoo!!! I've finally completed chapter eleven, and I hope eveyone likes it. I've also got some cool news for anyone that wants to hear it. Another author my the name of 'Lost and Never Found' contacted me, and asked me to co-author a story with her. The story is on her profile, and so far I think it's good. It's called 'Toe-shoes and Rabid Fandom', and it's a Fullmetal Alchemist fan fiction.

Anyways, on to the reviews!!!

**Reviews**

CrazedNeko: Thanks for the compliment!

Syldoran: Yay, I now have a bunch of votes for Greed appearing in the next chapter, so that's what will happen. There is a warning though; I pretty much took Annora and inserted her into the two episodes with Greed in them and tweaked things around a bit, so I don't know who it will turn out. It should be interesting though, especially when Annora's cutting sarcasm is inserted.

richard9311: Yeah, I took a little too long in writing this chapter, but I updated again! Thank you so much for being one of my most consistant reviewers.

Misu Sumi: Thanks for your vote, it helps a lot. Izumi is scary as hell, so I feel sorry for Annora, Ed, and Al. They're going to need some serious counseling after this chapter.

Kamisori Kaze no Renkinjutsu: What exactly is dirtboarding? I've never heard of it.

Mimori Kiryu: Thank you.

I'm A Pure Evil: Nope, she's completely clueless about the world of FMA.

Arella no Renyel: Here's some more rhyming for you.

I pledege alligance to the flag, that Colonel Mustang is a fag…

Mei Fire: I loathe Mary Sues within every fiber of my being, so that's no problem for me not creating them.

Zilo's Blue Pen: Izumi is dangerous, and Katie had better know some powerful gods if she ever meets Izumi face-to-face.

Lost and Never Found: I updated, and I'll be sending you the next chapter soon.

Syn-chan: Why thank you, that means a lot to me.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: I listen to Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, and a few other bands. I kind of like hard rock.

The lyrics belong to _Crash and Burn_ by Savage Garden.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Captured

Chapter Twelve:

**Chapter Twelve:**

**Captured**

Annora frowned as she stood underneath the showerhead, letting the hot water pummel her entire body. Ever since the argument that she'd had with Ed the night before, she and Ed hadn't spoken a word to each other. Al was worried, and she was frustrated. What she needed more than anything was someone she could talk to, and hell had a better chance of freezing over than her saying a word to Ed about her concerns.

The teenager looked down at her hair and noted with satisfaction that all of the dye that had been there previously was now gone. She still hadn't quite forgiven Ed for that particular stunt. Annora let out a sigh as she stared down at the tiled floor beneath her feet, watching the water wash away down the drain. Between her homesickness and the perpetual dreams about the Gate that she had been having since the first one almost a month ago, she was relatively close to having a nervous breakdown. It was now nearing the ten-week mark of her arrival in Amestris, and she couldn't help but wonder what would happen next. What would be her next step in finding out why and how she had ended up here?

Right after she had turned off the water and was in the process of drying off, the sixteen-year old heard Izumi hollering at her, Ed, and Al to get downstairs. Annora immediately threw on her clothes and ran down the stairs. She had learned the hard way that it was never a good idea to ignore Izumi.

--

If there was any form of a divine being watching over her, Annora would have to assume it was a malicious one as she sat and stared moodily at her reflection in the glass of water that she was holding in her hand while sitting at a small table in a somewhat seedy café/bar. The teen scowled at her reflection before she took a long gulp of the cool liquid, hoping that the water would help to cool off her temper as well. Ed and Al had left Izumi's house about ten minutes ago to run an errand for their teacher by going to see someone named 'Dante', leaving her behind.

"That jackass," Annora grumbled as she drank the last of her water, her chocolate eyes flashing with barely contained irritation as she mimicked her friend's words to her. "'You don't need to come, Teacher was the one who told Al and I to go and get medicine from Dante.' Pfft, yeah right. He probably just wanted to ditch me for a few hours 'cause he got tired of being the military's babysitter, and he's still pissed off at me."

'_The prick can go pound sand for all I care, because I'm not going to admit that I'm wrong!'_ the sixteen-year old mentally snarled before she sighed as she placed her left hand on her forehead and massaged her temples. She usually didn't like to sulk, but for some reason unknown to her, Dublith felt just a little more… unfriendly than Central or Resembool. Maybe it was just because of her recent spat with Ed, or maybe not. Annora was about to get up and head back to the Curtis's butcher shop when a strange woman suddenly flopped down in the seat next to her and indicated to the bartender that she would like a drink.

"Hello there," she greeted, and it took Annora a few seconds to realize that the woman was talking to her.

"Hi," she responded somewhat unenthusiastically. The woman arched a blonde eyebrow in question before she leaned over and peered at Annora closely, her odd green eyes slightly narrowed.

"You look familiar, have I seen you somewhere before?"

"I dunno, it may just be your mind playing tricks on you," Annora suggested as she stood up, only to suddenly find herself hemmed in by a short guy wearing a cloak, a tall muscular man with a startlingly white ponytail, and a guy roughly around her height with spiky greenish-brown hair. The woman stood up as well, and it was then that Annora noticed that her blonde hair had been cropped short.

"Actually, I **know** that I've see you somewhere before," she woman pointed out confidently as she leaned closer to examine Annora. "You were with two boys, the **Elric** brothers."

Annora froze momentarily before her mind started working again. Feigning ignorance, she looked steadily back at the woman, keeping her expression politely puzzled.

"The Elric brothers, as in the famous State Alchemist and his younger brother? Hah, that's a good one. Never seen them before in my life," she laughed before she pulled back her jacket sleeve and looked at her wristwatch. "Crap, I have to get home before my brother blows a gasket for me ditching my chores. Well, it's been nice talking to you; see ya."

Annora tried to squeeze past the man with the spiky greenish hair, only to have him pull out what looked unsettlingly like a katana from out of nowhere and point it at her.

"I don't think so," the man growled, his eyes narrowing. "You're coming with us, kid."

"Dorochet, the boss said that we're not supposed to harm her!" the woman snapped, her green eyes flashing. Dorochet made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat, but he still didn't lower the sword.

"The boss also told us to make sure that we brought the kid back to the Devil's Nest before meeting him at the old bat's house, Marta."

Annora stared at the sword pointed directly at her and blinked before she fixed her attention on the two adults. A slow smirk made its way across her face before she ducked under Dorochet's katana and delivered a painful blow to the man's stomach, causing all of the air to whoosh out of his lungs. The man crumpled, and Annora assumed a fighting stance, glaring at her remaining would-be abductors.

"Sorry, but I make it a rule not to go with people who threaten me," she spat before she head butted Marta in the stomach and ran like hell down the street. Annora made it to almost halfway to the Curtis's butcher shop before something shot up behind her and hit her hard in the back of her neck. The teen fell to her knees with a pained gasp, fighting against the almost overwhelming urge to pass out as Marta, Law, and the other man caught up to her while Dorochet looked down at her coldly.

"Talk about a speedy little brat," the ninja growled as he put his sheathed sword that he had used to stun Annora back into his belt. Law looked over at him as he pulled out a cloth already dampened with something and pressed it up against the sixteen-year old's nose and mouth. Annora struggled against the man's grasp, cursing and scratching at her attacker as the chemicals soaked into the fabric began their work, fogging her mind and tempting the teen to enter the dark realm of unconsciousness. After a minute of incredibly violent resistance, Annora fell limp in her abductor's arms, dead to the world.

--

"Nnnghh…" Annora groaned as she slowly came to, her head feeling as though it was about to explode. The sixteen-year old sat up and looked around her, examining her surroundings closely.

"What… what the hell?" she muttered when she saw that she was in what looked like a small storeroom, and noticed the fact that her hands had been bound together with thick rope. The teen sweatdropped as she looked at the ropes before she scooted over towards the corner of a metal crate and immediately began to scrape her bonds against the rough edge. After several minutes of grunting and swearing profusely under her breath, the last few strands finally parted and Annora was able to remove the coarse rope from around her wrists.

The teen made a face as she rubbed gingerly at the spots where her wrists had been rubbed raw by the rough fibers. Where the hell was she anyways? Annora glanced around, noting the fact that boxes had been stacked all around the room in a rather haphazard manner, before she spotted a door. Moving carefully so as not to knock anything over, Annora made her way over towards the door and stood up on her tiptoes to peer through the barred window up at the top.

Through the meal bars, she could see two men armed with knives standing in front of the door, chatting.

"Hey, did you see the scratches on Law's face?" one man asked with a laugh. "Boy am I glad that I wasn't with the group that brought that kid in. From what I heard, she fought like a wildcat when they caught her."

"Yeah, well don't let Greed hear you say that," the other one warned, his expression serious. "Otherwise he might 'volunteer' you for the duty of hauling that little she-devil out of there when he wants to talk to her."

Annora gave a disgusted snort as she lowered herself to the floor and sat down by the door, thinking hard. So the person who had arranged to have her abducted was named Greed? That thought didn't sit too well with the teenager; the idea of it was way too close to Envy's name and what he represented. Annora looked around her slowly, searching for an exit of some kind. After a few minutes she gave up and slumped down against the door's rough wooden frame. The only way out was the door, and that was being guarded by a couple of boneheads.

'_Well this is a fine kettle of fish,'_ the sixteen-year grumbled mentally as she pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms on top of them, resting her chin on them as she stared aimlessly at the ceiling. _'I need to get myself out of this, and not rely on Ed or Al to help me out. Especially Ed; I don't need to see the smug look on that jackass's face when he finds out that I was dumb enough to let myself get kidnapped._'

Annora suddenly blinked and straightened up, her chocolate eyes focused on the air duct located in the middle of the ceiling. A slow smile made its way across the girl's face as she stood up and walked directly underneath it. She had found her way out.

--

Greed whistled tunelessly as he, Law, Bido, Tucker, and a few other chimeras strolled down the hallway. He had managed to kidnap both the younger Elric brother, and as an additional bargaining chip, the girl that traveled with the State Alchemist all in one day. As far as things went, he was in a good mood. A sudden commotion up ahead snapped the homunculus out of his euphoric state, and he increased his pace as he rounded the corner, only to find the two guards he had stationed in front of the room where the girl had been in arguing heatedly with the door standing wide open.

"Alright, what the hell is going on here?" he demanded as he came up to the arguing men. Both of the guards jumped about a foot in the air before they spun around to face their boss.

"B-boss… the kid, I swear we were watching her, but…" one stammered out nervously, his knees shaking violently. Greed fixed the man with an intense look as he lowered his purple-tinged sunglasses.

"But what?"

"But… she's gone…"

Greed didn't say a word as he poked his head around the corner and peered into the empty room. His odd lavender-colored eyes scanned the room thoroughly before they landed upon the metal grate to the air vent hanging to one side. The homunculi's dark eyebrows shot up almost to his hairline before he turned around to look at Bido.

"Bido, we have a rat in the ventilation system. Go take care of it," he ordered. The lizard chimera gave a gleeful laugh as he scurried up the wall and onto the ceiling before going into the ventilation shaft. Greed waited until the tip of his tail had disappeared from view before he turned around to face Law.

"So, where is this Alphonse kid?"

--

"That damn stupid blasted thrice-cursed misbegotten jackass!" Annora snarled as she slowly pulled herself through the filthy air vent, her temper rising rapidly as she crawled through the tight dark space. "When I get my hands on the scumbag that had me kidnapped, I'll rip out his eyes and stuff them down his throat!!"

The teenager thought hard for a moment before she shook her head and continued moving. "Nah, that'll be too quick for the bastard. I'll have to think up something more painful… but what?"

A sound from below caused Annora to jump, making her crack her head against the top of the ventilation shaft.

"Dammit!" she snarled just as an idea came to her. An unholy smirk crossed the teen's face as she continued on down the seemingly endless air shaft. The stupid freak that had kidnapped her was going to rue this day for quite some time.

--

Kimbly, who was down in the bar washing glasses looked up at the ceiling, his amber eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He thought he had heard a bump, but when a disembodied voice floated down from above he froze in his tracks.

"…first, I'll boil his balls in acid and make him watch… rip his heart out and make him eat it while it's still beating…**then** I'll scratch his eyes out and stuff them down his throat…"

The Crimson Alchemist's eyes widened to about the size of dinner plates as he stared up at the ceiling in revulsion. It couldn't be, could it? The man's mind flashed back to the stories his mother had told him when he was a child, about the ghosts of a murder's former victims coming back to haunt the present owner of a house, and extracting their revenge in a bloody and gruesome way. Those stories had scared the **shit** out of him when he had been a kid.

Come to think of it, Greed had mentioned something about a woman being murdered in this bar not too long ago, before he, a few renegade humans, and the chimeras had taken up residence in the Devil's Nest.

The former State Alchemist slowly backed away from the spot where he had heard the voice, keeping his eyes trained on the ceiling before he glanced at the tattoos on his palms. He couldn't blow up ghosts, could he? Wasn't there something about them not being corporeal or something like that?

"I didn't kill you!" he muttered fervently as he gripped the cleaning rag in his hand tightly.

After a few moments, and no more whispered threats, Kimbly relaxed and went back to cleaning out glasses, glancing out of the corner of his eyes to make sure that no one had observed his strange behavior. It wouldn't do for anyone to find out that he, Zolf J. Kimbly, the Crimson Alchemist, was afraid of ghosts.

--

"Dammit, where the hell is the exit?" Annora groused as she entered an area where the air vent opened up into another room. "I don't know how long I've been in here, but I'm sick and tired of crawling around in the dark!"

"Oh, I can fix that," a voice hissed behind her. Annora let out a startled curse as she tried to whirl around to see who was behind her, only to lose her balance and fall head-first onto the metal grate below. For a moment it seemed that the grate would hold, only to have the screws give away with a harsh shriek of protest. With a petrified shout, Annora was dumped painfully right into the middle of a room full of people on her back.

Al looked up from where he sat up against the wall, his hands and feet bound in thick chains to prevent him from escaping. The fifteen-year old's red eyes widened when he caught sight of the girl lying in the middle of the room, groaning.

"A-Annora?" he asked hesitantly, hardly daring to believe that the older girl had come to rescue him. Annora didn't hear him as she fought past the pain that fogged her mind, trying to think coherently.

"Aw shit… ouch… okay, note to self; next time, just kick the son of a bitch in the face instead of trying to see who the hell it is," the sixteen-year old moaned as she rolled over and pushed herself up into a kneeling position before holding her bruised ribs.

"Well, well, well, and who might this be?" a man asked mockingly as he walked up to Annora. A pair of slightly curly-toed shoes came into the teenager's line of vision before she looked up to see Greed come over next to her and crouch down by her side.

"Who the hell are you?" Annora snarled as she looked up at the homunculus. Greed only smirked in response, revealing unsettlingly pointy teeth. Another voice rang out from up above in the air duct, causing Annora to look up at the speaker.

"See Greed? I found her!" Bido declared as he bounced up and down excitedly inside the metal ductwork, his tail whipping around in all directions. Annora scowled at the lizard chimera, her chocolate eyes brimming with fury as she stood up and fixed Bido with a murderous glare.

"You have exactly two seconds to haul your scaly ass out of my sight before I come up there and beat the shit out of you!" she spat. "And when I'm done doing that, I'm going to haul you to the taxidermist and have your hide made in to a purse!!"

Bido let out a yelp of fear before he scuttled away into the dark depths of the ventilation system, afraid for his life… or at least the humiliation of being made into a purse. Greed blinked a few times in surprise as he stared at Annora before a slow grin made its way across his face. The homunculus strode over to the girl and grabbed her by the chin, forcing Annora to look up at him.

"I like a girl with spirit," he stated smoothly. "So, how about it?"

"And you are?" Annora asked with a frown. Greed smirked in response.

"Your new best friend. So, how about you ditch the shorty that you usually hang around with and-"

"Sorry, no. Not only no, but **hell** no," Annora growled as she jerked away from the homunculus. "I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not that desperate."

Greed's right eye developed a noticeable twitch at the teenager's statement, and two minutes later, Annora sat next to Al with both her hands and feet bound tightly with strong rope while Greed and all of the chimeras except Dorochet left the room.

"Gee Annora, that was really mature," Al muttered. Annora gave a sarcastic snort in response as she shot the boy a sidelong glance.

"The freak job was hitting on me. What was I supposed to do; say 'take me, I'm yours'?"

"No, what I'm saying is that you could have handled that better."

Annora gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "Al, the **only** way I could have handled that better would have been to kick that stupid slimy bastard in the crotch."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a female voice stated suddenly from inside Al's armor, causing Annora to jump slightly. The sixteen-year old stared at Al for several seconds before her gaze moved down to the younger boy's breastplate.

"What do you have in there this time, Al, a talking cat?" she asked jokingly, only to have Al shake his head while the person inside exploded.

"I am not a talking cat!!" the woman raged, obviously insulted. Annora gave Al a questioning look, her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline.

"Al, is there something that you need to tell me?" she muttered, the sarcasm in her voice clearly evident. The woman inside obviously didn't feel like being a smartass, because she cut right to the chase.

"Listen, Greed put me in here to watch the boy, and now you since you decided to drop in!"

"Oh joy, a babysitter, just what I need," Annora grumbled as she rolled her eyes. "More bullshit to deal with."

Dorochet just rolled his eyes in response as he watched the two teens. Annora arched an eyebrow challengingly in his direction, causing the man to curl back his lips and let out a low snarling sound. The sixteen-year old recoiled slightly in shock, her chocolate eyes wide as she stared at the sword-wielding man in front of her.

"Did you just **growl** at me?" she asked incredulously. Dorochet chose not to dignify that comment with a response, although he did growl slightly when Marta started laughing from inside of Alphonse.

"You've never heard of a chimera before, have you, kid?" she finally asked, much to the confusion of Annora.

"A chimera, what's that?"

"It's a combination of animals alchemically fused together," Al said slowly, obviously thinking intently about Marta's comment. "Or in some cases, a human and animal fused together. But it's illegal to use alchemy on humans like that!"

"That didn't stop the military scientists from combining me with a snake," Marta responded grimly. Annora remained silent for a few seconds, mulling over what she had just learned, before she looked over at Dorochet.

"So, what kind of chimera are you then?" she asked. Dorochet smirked at her in response as he lit his pipe before inhaling in a large quantity of smoke.

"Guess."

"Just watch. He raises one leg when he pees," Marta declared suddenly, causing Dorochet to choke on his pipe before glaring angrily in her direction.

"**I do not**!!" he shrieked while Annora pulled a face.

"Okay, major information violation right there," she pointed out. "We **really** didn't need to know that."

Once Dorochet had calmed down enough to stop making death threats at Marta, things quieted down. After several long moments of silence, Al looked over at Annora with worry evident in his red eyes.

"Annora, why are you mad at Brother?" he asked hesitantly. The sixteen-year old glanced over at him momentarily before she returned her attention to the door and sighed.

"It's complicated," she pointed out reluctantly. "And right here isn't exactly the best place to discuss it."

"What, boyfriend troubles?" Marta piped up suddenly, and Annora flushed a furious shade of red as she directed a filthy glare in what she assumed to be the older woman's direction.

"W-what that hell gave you that idea?!" she stammered. Marta rolled her eyes from inside of Al's armor at the teenager's statement.

"I've been there a few times, so trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Annora gave an offended huff as she looked in the other direction. Al sighed in response before he decided to try and keep the conversation going.

"So, Marta, where exactly are we?" he began just as Greed opened the door and came in once again with several chimeras.

"Glad you asked, kid," he stated proudly. "You see, this place, the Devil's Nest, is handcrafted for outlaws, where they can hide out for a while."

Annora sweatdropped as she stared at the man incredulously. "Oh, this is just frigging peachy. We got kidnapped by a damned bandit wannabe who's spent way too much time watching outdated TV shows."

Greed ignored the teenager's biting remark as he strolled over to Al and lifted up his helmet before looking down.

"Well, I'll be damned, he really is empty," the homunculus exclaimed as he dropped Al's helmet back into place.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're playing at?!" Annora demanded angrily as she attempted to place herself in front of Al, only to have Greed push her back with his foot.

"Calm down, chicky," he told the teenager, who immediately tried to go after the homunculus, spewing a long list of profanities that would have deafened a sailor in response to being called 'chicky'. "I'm not gonna hurt your friend. So just sit down, shut up, and stop cussin' at me; it isn't gonna do you a damn bit of good. Besides, it's not like I haven't heard some of those words before."

Annora twitched at the insult, but stopped cussing up a blue streak and settled for glaring at the homunculus instead, much to the considerable relief of the inhabitants of the Devils Nest. Greed arched a dark eyebrow at the sixteen-year old's audacity before he turned around to look at a tall stocky man bundled up in an overcoat, balaclava, and hat standing behind him.

"It's just like you said, Dr. Tucker," he said as a slight smirk played about his face. "Looks like you weren't just pulling my leg."

"But… I'm not the one who told them how to apprehend you, Al," the man insisted in a whispery voice. Judging from Al's reaction, he really did **not** want to see the man.

"And just who the hell might you be?" Annora demanded as she redirected her glare from Greed to Tucker before she arched an eyebrow at the other man's appearance. "Geez, is there a weirdo convention in town or something? I've already lost count of how many nutjobs I've seen since this morning, and that's only in a few hours!"

"Annora, he's a chimera," Al interjected softly, and the sixteen-year old looked over at her friend with wide eyes.

"You're kidding me, right?" she asked hesitantly before she cast a glance at Tucker's feet and yelped out a curse when she caught sight of the man's clawed feet. "Okay, that gets about a fifty on the weird shit o' meter. I think we've had enough fun here for today. Can we go home now?"

"Ha, that's a good one, kid!" Greed said as he went and crouched down in front of her and Al. Annora just gave the homunculus a dirty look as she scowled and muttered something inappropriate under her breath. Al gently elbowed her in the side, silently warning her not to do something stupid.

"It's a treat to meet ya, kids," he said, grinning unnervingly at the two teens. "You two can just call me Greed. I'm your new friend."

"And how loosely can I define the word 'friend'?" Annora asked sarcastically as she stared defiantly at the man in front of her. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'rapist' or 'child molester'."

"And why do you say that?"

"Hmm, let me think. You kidnap two teenagers, both of which are under the age of eighteen, and haul them off to some unknown shit-hole. Where I come from, that qualifies as child abduction, and you'd be sitting in prison dealing with Bubba for a **long** time for what you've just pulled."

(AN: 'Bubba' is the typical prison fag that … well, use your imaginations.)

Greed threw his head back and laughed until tears streamed from his eyes. Annora and Al both sweatdropped as they stared at the cackling homunculus in front of them. After several moments of watching Greed laugh his ass of, and wondering whether or not he was going to wet himself from laughing so hard, the man finally stopped and wiped away the tears from his eyes with his left hand.

"Now **that** was funny," he stated with a smirk, not noticing the fact that Annora's breath hitched in her throat when she caught sight of a bright red symbol tattooed onto Greed's left hand.

"Oh shit, we are so dead," she muttered nervously as she immediately started to wrack her mind for a possible escape plan. A gasp from off to her left alerted the teenager that Al had noticed the tattoo as well, and knew exactly what it meant.

"A tattoo of the Ouroboros," he muttered almost fearfully. Greed raised his eyebrows as he glanced down at his left hand, a slight smile twitching about his lips.

"Heh, so you know what this is. Well this should go quickly then."

"Yeah, disembowelment and other forms of torture. Oh joy," Annora grumbled, earning her an odd look from Greed.

"What the hell gave you that idea?"

"The stupid palm tree threatened me with that after I called him a cross-dressing fag, so I'm kind of expecting the same sort of B.S. from you," the teenager explained with a small shrug. "I mean, you **do** have the same tattoo."

"Yeah, so that makes you a friend of Envy, Lust, and the others, doesn't it?" Al added as he caught on to where Annora was headed. Greed gave a disbelieving snort in response as his odd-colored eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses.

"I wouldn't say friend," he muttered darkly with a scowl. "More like sworn enemies if you want to get down to the grit."

"I don't get it."

Greed smirked at the fifteen-year old as he stared intently at him. "Well Al, that is your name, right? Tell me, how does it feel to have your soul attached to this empty suit of armor? To exist as a chunk of solid metal instead of a soft and cushy human worm? In other words, completely unaffected by weaknesses like hunger, fatigue, and old age. You could call that eternal life, couldn't you?"

Annora stared at Al in disbelief, her eyes wide as the realization of what Greed had just said hit her.

'_I know I shouldn't agree, but what he said is right… in a way. But Al wants to get his body __**back**__, not stay this way forever. What the hell is this guy playing at?'_

"Eternal life?" Al asked, incredulity clearly evident in his voice as he glared at Greed. "**That's **why you kidnapped me? Eternal life?!"

"They don't call me Greed for nothin'! I want money, women, status, and power! I want everything this world is selling, and eternity's topping the list!" the homunculus crowed excitedly before he bent down next to Al. "Do you understand? You can help me achieve what I'm going for, Al, and you **will** help me here. Because if you don't tell me how your soul's bound to that armor, I'll break it apart to find out."

"Wait a second," Annora interjected suddenly, attracting Greed's attention. "If you kidnapped Al to find out the secret of his soul, then why kidnap me as well?"

"Collateral."

"**SAY WHAT?!**"

"That's right, kid; you're the insurance policy if Big Brother tries to get to violent when he comes here after his brother," Greed stated with a smirk. "That, and you'll help encourage Al here to tell me the secret behind his soul attachment."

Annora scowled at the homunculus. "I'd sooner kiss the ass of a yak. I'll never sell out my friends, you… _Laosboc!_"

(AN: Laosboc means gelded male goat in Gaelic, and it is a major insult. Annora learned this and several other phrases from her grandmother, who is Irish.)

Everyone in the room stared at the teen as she spat out a word in another language that none of them had ever heard before. Greed stood up and blinked, staring at the girl in obvious puzzlement.

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked. The sixteen-year old glowered at him defiantly in response.

"Try that I just called you a castrated male goat, asshole," she snarled, chocolate eyes flashing darkly in loathing. "Maybe next time I'll speak in English, and slowly so you'll be able to keep up with me."

Greed scowled at the girl before he returned his attention to Alphonse.

"So, what do you say, kid?"

"I won't help you; you're a bad person," Al stated stubbornly. Greed gave an amused snort as a slow smirk made its way across his face.

"You can act tough for a while if you insist," he pointed out knowingly. "Just remember that no one's on their way to save you kiddo, so you two are at **my** mercy now."

Annora froze, her eyes widening before she smirked knowingly at the man. What really unnerved both Greed and Al was when she began to laugh.

"You dumbass," she snickered, shaking her head in mock sympathy. "When my brother finds out about this, you're going to be beyond screwed."

"And why's that?"

"Try he's in the military," Annora told the homunculus with a hint of triumph in her voice. "And he's incredibly overprotective of me. I'm so gonna enjoy watching him kick your ass."

'_But, I thought that Annora's brother wasn't on the military records,'_ Al thought bewilderedly before he realized what the sixteen-year old was doing. _'She's trying to psyche Greed out so that he'll let us go!'_

"My brother knows that you took me!" Al jumped in, adding to the pressure. "I bet he's on his way right-"

"Oh, yeah, about him. When I left him, He wasn't feeling so good," Greed said suddenly, smirking as he pointed his thumb down at the ground before he looked over at Annora. "And as for your big brother, I'd like to see him try and hurt me."

The teenager gritted her teeth to prevent herself from saying anything that could possibly make the situation any worse than it already was as Al lost it.

"You better not have hurt my brother!" he shouted as he hastily scratched a transmutation circle onto the ground using a piece of rock. A massive stone hand shot up from out of the ground and punched Greed right in the stomach, knocking him down.

"Way to go Al!" Annora cheered, grinning at her friend as he continued.

"You let your guard down! Now, all I need to do is use this chain to do-"

"To do what exactly?" a familiar voice growled as Greed straightened up and broke the stone hand that had punched him. Before either Annora or Al could react, the homunculus reached over and slammed Al's head down against the stone floor beneath them.

"Now that was silly," he stated before he let go of Al's helmet. "Oh, sorry about that, Marta; I forgot that you were keeping house."

A low groan from within Al's armor indicated the truth behind this statement as Greed stood up and strolled back over to the group of chimeras standing behind him.

"I like a man with guts, but did you honestly think that it would be that easy?" the homunculus asked with a smirk. "I mean if you really want to hurt me, you'd have to do something like-"

Greed didn't get a chance to finish his statement as Law creamed him head-on with his massive hammer, obliterating the top of the homunculi's head down to his bottom jaw. Annora and Al both stared in horror as Greed's corpse hit the ground in front of them before the younger boy reacted.

"Huh? What did you do that for?!" he demanded fearfully, and angrily. "I thought that he was your friend!"

"I'm going to be sick now; please make room," Annora muttered faintly as she stared at the brain matter splattered wetly on the floor in front of her.

Al cast a worried look at the older teen before she suddenly stiffened up next to him, and all of the blood proceeded to drain from her face.

"Al…" she muttered shakily as Greed's body stood up and his head went back together before he cracked his neck, apparently unperturbed about the fact that he had just been dead a few short seconds ago.

"See, I've got quite a shell too, Al," he stated confidently before he looked over at Law. "Hey, bud, a little cleaner next time, 'kay?"

"Yessir, I'm sorry."

Annora was now dead white as she stared in horror at the homunculus, her chocolate eyes wide in fear.

"Y-you… you were dead!" she protested. "You had half your head blown off!!"

Greed smirked at the currently shaking teenager, his lavender eyes glinting in hidden amusement.

"You see, doll, that's the nice thing about being a homunculus; you ain't that easy to kill," he stated proudly before directing his attention to Alphonse. "I know what you're thinking. If I have this body, then why do I need you sec… ret…"

Greed trailed off as a loud stomping noise became present out in the corridor and a large ornate door was suddenly transmuted from the previously solid back wall.

"Brother!" Al stated excitedly as he leaned forward. "Brother?"

Instead of Ed, Izumi calmly strolled in, followed closely by Sig. Annora and Al both sweatdropped as they stared at the two adults. It wasn't the rescue that they had expected, but they weren't about to complain.

"Excuse me for the interruption, gentlemen," Izumi stated coolly as she fixed Greed with a deadly glare.

"T-teacher," Al stuttered nervously while Annora gave a wane smile.

"Hi Mrs. Curtis," she muttered weakly as Greed gave the woman in front of him a dirty look before she whispered to Al. "I have a sudden feeling of impending doom. She's gonna kill us once she's done wiping the floor with these guys, isn't she?"

Al nodded empathetically in agreement, and Annora cringed in response. Greed ignored the exchange between the two teenagers as he looked at Izumi speculatively, irritation obvious on his face.

"I'm sorry, who the hell are you?" he demanded. Izumi scowled at the homunculus before she exploded.

"PISSED OFF!!"

Annora and Al both watched as Izumi then proceeded to kick some serious chimera ass, knocking all of the chimera in the room out cold before she straightened up and dusted her hands off.

"Wow," Annora muttered to Al, clearly impressed. "That was new."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Greed protested as he walked away from where he had been standing by Al and Annora. "Nice manners. I can see where the kids learned theirs."

"Hey, I resent that!" Annora interjected while Izumi and Sig both glared at the homunculus. Greed just ignored her as the women walked up to him and gave him a dirty look.

"Are you the one in charge here?" she demanded, dark eyes narrowed dangerously. "Thank you for taking care of Al and Annora for a while, but I'll be taking them back home now!"

"I'm afraid that's not true," Greed pointed out with a smirk. Izumi just closed her eyes and gave a serene smile in response.

"I see."

Moving like chain lightning, the alchemist immediately went and punched Greed in the face, only to flinch upon impact. The homunculus smirked at the woman's discomfort, a strange patch of some shiny black substance coating the skin on his cheek where Izumi had tried to punch him.

"Well, aren't you just full of surprises?" he asked mockingly, revealing a set of unsettlingly sharp teeth. "Tell me, did you break three fingers or four?"

Izumi hissed out an incomprehensible curse as she jumped back away from Greed, her eyes narrowed.

"Teacher!" Al yelped worriedly. The woman ignored him as she fixed Greed with an intense searching look.

"That's a pretty weird body you've got there," she remarked offhandedly. Greed smirked at her and shrugged in response.

"I never did bruise easily."

"Ah, then I'll just have to start trying harder then."

Annora looked back and forth between the two adults, her mind whirling from what she had just seen. Suddenly, Al leaned forward and asked anxiously.

"Teacher, where's my brother? Is he safe?"

"I should be asking you that," the older woman stated sternly. "Apparently the two of you can't even run a simple errand for me."

Izumi paused for a moment before she whirled around to glare at the two teens. "All three of you are in for a long lecture later, so you'd better get ready!!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Al stammered as tears somehow managed to start spurting from his eyes. Annora wasn't much better off, seeing as she was currently shaking like a leaf in her seat, and tear were welling up in her eyes as well.

"Yes ma'am, I'm so sorry ma'am!" she stuttered out nervously. Izumi arched an eyebrow at the girl's response before she clapped her hands together and slapped them down onto the ground, causing Greed to be encased up to his neck in stone.

"Not even going to try?" the alchemist asked calmly as she stood up. Greed smirked at her as he gave a shrug as well as he was able to.

"I have no intention of fighting a woman. All I want from Al is the secret of his transmutation, simple as that."

"And if you get it?"

"Why then I'll have the secret to eternal life, and the world will be on a platter."

"Oh yippee," Annora muttered dryly as she rolled her eyes. "As if this wasn't fun enough as it already is."

"This is getting us nowhere," Izumi stated coldly as she dropped down to the floor and slammed both hands down on the ground, transmuting a giant stone hand and ramming it straight into Greed's face. Annora and Al both let out enthusiastic cheers when they saw the massive cloud of dust that came from the collision.

"You did it!" Al enthused, only to freeze when he, Izumi, and Annora all caught sight of Greed still standing where he had been, smirking triumphantly at them with his amethyst eyes shining in unbound satisfaction.

"Don't look so surprised," he stated with a leer. "I told you before I don't bruise easily. Don't you listen, doll?"

Annora went pale and swallowed nervously. She had a really bad feeling that this was **not** going to end well.

--

I know, I know, evil cliffie. Just don't all go trying to find out where my house is so you can try to tar and feather me. First of all, my parents would be pissed as hell if a group of people just suddenly showed up and started setting up a cauldron of pitch in the front yard. Second, the next part of the chapter will be up soon. It was too long if I had everything in here, so I cut things down a bit.

Ed: Actually, you're just lazy.

Wandering Hitokiri: Oh, just shut up. At least I don't drool in my sleep.

Ed: I do not!!

Wandering Hitokiri: (Smirks) Oh yes you do. (Pulls a bunch of pictures out of her hakama pocket) Here's some photos of you sleeping on the train. And on an additional note, I borrowed Hughes's camera to take these.

Ed: (Looks at pictures and goes red) I'll kill you!

Wandering Hitokiri: Only if you can catch me, hobbit boy! (Wandering Hitokiri is forced to use Shikuchi to escape from one very pissed off alchemist)

Note: Shikuchi means 'Reduced Earth' and is a move from the anime/manga series 'Rurouni Kenshin'.

And now, the reviews!!

**Reviews!!**

Zilo's Blue Pen: Yes, Izumi is scary as hell, although my parents can top her easily in scaryness. But yes, Annora is having trouble coping with the idea that she's in Amestris. A normal boring life has never looked so good when you're homesick, huh? I agree with you, I'd probably lose it if that happened to me, and I am a fan of FMA, just not a rabid fan.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: Yes, Ed is dense. Although, all guys have their moments at one time or another, Ed just seems to have them more than most. Here, hit away at Ed. (Shoves Ed over to Sarin) I don't mind how you say that you would like a new chapter, I'm just glad that you take the time to review.

YourFavoritePlushie: Thank you.

Syldoran: Yes, biting sarcasm is always useful. (Smirks) Oh, really? Did you just give me a spoiler? That sounds interesting.

Mei Fire: Thanks for the cookies. Are they chocolate chip or peanut butter? No, Annora did not become emo, she's just a little depressed, and Ed isn't helping matters all that much. Oh is he going to get a **big** surprise in the future.

Arella no Renyel: Wow, thank you so much for the compliment. (Blushes) I'm glad that so many people think that this isn't a Mary Sue fic. If it was, I'd have to kill myself.

Mimori Kiryu: Really? Thanks! Yeah, Ed is an insensitive jackass sometimes, so that's part of the reason why Annora's having problems. Would you be interested in appearing later on in the story in Central? Maybe you could be a character whose dad works in the military or something like that. Let me know and send me a detailed character profile if you're interested.

Mischevious Wolf of Twilight: Thank you very much for reading this. It makes me happy.

richard9311: I rock? Sweet!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one.

Siacatmesecat: Oops, sorry. I didn't realize that I was being repetitive. Thanks for the advice. I hope that what happened in this chapter was dramatic enough for you.

Kinjo Satsujin-han: Interesting… Sounds a little too painful for my tastes, but hey, it sounds fun too. Yes, boys are confusing. I think that it's genetic or something.

Lost and Never Found: Izumi, the dragon is definitely Izumi. I think it's "Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup."


	13. Special: Halloween Havoc

Hello all of my honored readers! This is a special chapter dedicated solely to the marvelous American wonder called Halloween. I hope that all of you enjoy it, and I wish you all a Happy Halloween!!

Now on to the sugar!!! (Runs off squealing and bouncing around like a little kid to go trick or treating.) (Ed, Al, Annora, Mustang, Hawkeye, and Katie all watch her and sweatdrop.)

**Katie:** (Looks over at Annora) And you thought that I was the one that you needed to keep the sugar away from.

**Annora:** Katie, don't even start with me. (Everyone hears a distant squeal.)

**Wandering Hitokiri:** SUGAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Everyone sweatdrops again)

**Mustang:** I'm not going to be the one peeling her off the ceiling tonight.

**Halloween Havoc**

Ed arched an eyebrow skeptically as he and Al surveyed the room that they were in. It was hard to believe that just a few short hours ago Annora's insane friend had somehow showed up in Central and then proceeded to drag the three of them back to her house. Annora sat next to him on the couch, her chocolate eyes looking about her nervously as she scrutinized her surroundings intently.

"Will you stop twitching?" Ed grumped, his golden eyes revealing the barely contained annoyance that he felt at being dragged away by some crazed girl. Annora glanced over at him before she forced herself to relax.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I just can't believe that Katie not only managed to come to Central, but she dragged us back to her house as well."

"And why is that weird?" the alchemist asked. Annora shot him a look that plainly said 'just how stupid **are** you?' before she sighed and ran a hand through her long bangs.

"I've been looking for a way home for God knows how long, and Katie just randomly pops up out of nowhere and drags us all back to Flagstaff. This goes **beyond** weird right now," the sixteen year old pointed out before a thoughtful frown crossed her face. "I wonder if it has anything to do with today being Halloween."

"Halla-what?"

"Halloween," Annora repeated. "It's a holiday like Christmas and Thanksgiving, but pretty it much consists of kids in costume going door-to-door and begging for candy, or trick or treating. That, and it's supposed to be one of the spookiest nights of the year."

"Trick or treating?" Al piped up suddenly. "That sounds like fun, Brother."

Ed gave a disbelieving snort in response, earning him a smack upside the head from Annora.

"Hey, what was that for?" the teenager alchemist demanded angrily as he rubbed at the injured area ruefully. Annora let out a sigh as she rolled her eyes upwards.

"Ed, don't be rude, okay?"

"Why, what happened?" Katie demanded suddenly from behind them, and all three teens jumped a good foot in the air from fright. Annora slumped back on the couch clutching at her heart while Ed spun around to glare at the other girl.

"Don't do that!!" he raged. Katie stared at him and blinked in surprise before a knowing smirk made its way across her face.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked as she reached out and rubbed the top of Ed's head. The boy immediately jerked away from her and scowled as he attempted to flatten his ruffled hair. Annora, reading the situation, got in between her two friends and held her arms out to separate them while Al restrained Ed.

"Katie, why did you bring us here anyway?" the girl inquired. Katie gave her friend an unholy smirk in response, and Annora felt her blood run cold at the sight.

"Well, I went and found you guys because tonight's Halloween, and I didn't have anyone to go trick or treating with. That, and there's a party going on at the mall tonight that I want to go to as well."

"So?"

"If you guys come with me, tonight will be the best Halloween ever!!"

Annora, Ed, and Al all sweatdropped in unison as they stared at they incredibly hyperactive girl, who was currently drooling profusely at the mere thought of spending a night with the famed Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Okay, Katie, you **really** need to hold off on the sugar," Annora remarked as she glanced over out the living room window to look at the sunset forming outside. It was already after five thirty, and the trick or treaters would be out soon. Katie made a scoffing noise as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"There is no such thing as too much sugar," the black-haired girl stated stubbornly, her yellow-green eyes narrowed slightly behind her coke-bottle glasses. Annora rolled her eyes in response.

"With you there is," she pointed out. "I never filled up a bucket with sugar and hid it under my bed so I could eat some whenever I wanted to."

Ed stared incredulously at Katie upon hearing this particular tidbit of information before he shuddered slightly. The mere thought of Katie on a sugar high was enough to give him nightmares for a month. Al apparently had similar thoughts, because his armor was rattling slightly as he stared at the girl nervously.

If Katie noticed their reactions, she ignored them as she fixed Annora with a piercing look before a smile broke out over her face and she clapped her hands together.

"Alright, enough talking!" she declared brightly. "We need to get into our costumes before trick or treaters start coming to the door!"

"Umm… how are we-" Ed began, only to be cut off by the hyper girl.

"You and Al are fine; you guys don't need costumes," Katie pointed out with a grin. "Annora and I on the other hand, need to get ready."

"But-"Annora started to protest, only to have her friend grab her by the wrist and drag her upstairs into her room, where she promptly closed the door. Ed and Al stared up the stairs at where the two girls had vanished before they exchanged nervous looks. Something told them that tonight wasn't going to be as clear-cut as Katie had said.

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Considering Annora's attitude, it only took about fifteen minutes before a massive argument ensued from inside Katie's room, causing both Ed and Al to jump. The two boys looked at each other curiously before they went up the stairs and onto the landing in front of Katie's bedroom door, where they could hear snippets of the conversation inside.

"Okay Katie, there is no way, I repeat, **no way**, that I am wearing this… costume!"

"Brother, Annora doesn't sound too happy," Al whispered. Ed nodded in response, his golden eyes riveted to the wooden door in front of them.

"Aww, c'mon Annora, you look good in it," Katie protested. "Besides, I think that Ed'll like it."

Ed blinked in surprise; why would they be talking about him?

"The only person that would like this outfit would be that miniskirt-obsessed pervert, Mustang!" Annora retorted hotly. Ed snickered softly at Annora's accurate description while Al just shook his head and sighed.

"Don't insult Roy-kun!!"

"I'm not insulting him, I'm stating the truth!!"

The sounds of a furious scuffle drifted out to the landing before someone stumbled over to the door and flung it open forcefully. Ed got a good glimpse of what looked like Annora wearing a sailor fuku with a green miniskirt before the girl let out a startled cry and slammed the door shut in his face. The alchemist blinked in surprise as a blush came across his face.

"Katie, I'm going to **kill** you!!!" Annora raged. "Hell will freeze over before I go out wearing this!"

"But-"

"Where's that other costume you showed me? I'll wear that, but not this! Got it?!"

"… Yes ma'am."

Five minutes later, Annora emerged wearing a white kimono-style shirt with long bell-shaped sleeves and an ankle-length pleated red skirt with socks and straw sandals on her feet. Her long hair had been pulled back using a thin white ribbon-like hair tie, although two long strands framing her face were left free. The teenager looked over at the boys and made a wry face.

"Not one word," she muttered as she walked past them and went down the stairs. Katie came out after her and grinned impishly as she pressed a Polaroid picture into Ed's hands. The other girl was wearing an Amestris military uniform, and had her shoulder-length black hair pulled back into a short ponytail.

"That's for you to look at later," she whispered conspiratorially as she winked at the confused teenager. Ed and Al exchanged confused glances before they followed the two girls, Ed quietly stuffing the picture into his trench coat pocket.

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"Trick or treat!!"

The man looked at the four teenagers standing on his front porch in semi-confusion. He had seen a lot of interesting costumes in his lifetime, but tonight's little group topped the charts. One girl was wearing a military uniform of some kind, while the other had on some sort of Japanese skirt and shirt combination while carrying a bow. But strangest of all were the two boys with them. One was wearing a seven-foot tall suit of armor, and the other one wearing the red trench coat was shorter than the two girls, and had a slight scowl planted on his face.

"Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?" he asked the person wearing the suit of armor. He didn't notice the slightly panicked looks the girls exchanged, but he did see the smaller boy's scowl deepen.

"Actually, he's fourteen," one of the girls piped up. "He just had a huge growth spurt recently."

"Yeah!" the boy wearing the armor agreed, and the man noticed the young voice that echoed from within.

"Nice costumes," the man finally said as he started handing out candy before he directed his attention to the boy wearing the armor. "So, are you taking your little brother with you and your friends?"

The girl wearing the Japanese costume gasped as she dropped her pillowcase full of candy and restrained the smaller boy as he attempted to lunge for the man.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC PIPSQUEAK THAT CAN'T GROW UP BECAUSE HE DOESN'T DRINK HIS MILK??!!" the boy raged.

"He didn't say that, Ed!" the girl gritted out. "Stop making such a big deal out of it!"

The man blinked in surprise before he hastily doled out a large amount of candy to the four teens and shut the door. Annora scowled as she let go of a struggling Ed and whacked the smaller boy upside the head.

"Idiot, stop biting people's heads off for no reason," she scolded as she bent over to pick up her dropped pillowcase. "That poor man is probably thinking about calling the cops because of the stunt you just pulled."

"He thought I was the younger brother," Ed muttered half-heartedly, anger smoldering beneath the surface of his golden eyes. One swift glare from Annora silenced the Fullmetal Alchemist though, and he wisely decided to keep any further complaints to himself.

"Okay, lets hit those last three houses, and then we'll go back to my house before heading off to that party I told you about," Katie interjected, grinning broadly at the thought of more candy.

"I'm assuming that it's a costume party then?" Annora muttered dryly as she took a quick count of her candy haul. Everyone had an almost full pillowcase, even Al. Actually, the boy had even more candy then the other three teens because most people assumed that he was the patient older brother that was nice enough to suffer through a night of trick or treating with his younger sibling. Ethan had received similar treatment a few years back when he had accompanied her and a few of her friends on a round of trick or treating.

"No duh it's a costume party," Katie replied, sticking her tongue out at Annora. "I wouldn't be going otherwise."

"But why is it at the mall?" the teenager wondered. "I know they have some sort of store to store trick or treating thing for little kids every year, but why would we be going to that?"

"You'll see when we get there!" Katie insisted. "Now stop asking questions and say 'trick or treat'!"

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Annora stared ahead of her for several long moments before she turned to look over at Katie, who was drooling slightly.

"No," she said sternly. "There is no way that we are going in there."

"Aww, c'mon Annora! Where's your sense of adventure?!" the other girl protested. Annora fixed her anime-obsessed friend with a dirty look as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I left it at home," she muttered darkly. "Katie, you didn't tell us that this 'party' was some anime convention!!"

Ed and Al were not participating in this conversation, namely because of the fact that they had just seen an exact copy of Lust walk by, and be greeted cheerily by the 'homunculus'.

"Hey, nice costumes!" 'Lust' called out as she walked by, leaving behind two very confused alchemists. After several moments, Ed finally regained the use of his voice.

"What in the-" he began hesitantly before he decided to voice another thought instead. "Did hell just freeze over or something?"

"No, we just entered it," Annora remarked sardonically as she rolled her eyes upwards in exasperation. "Katie, you are going to be very dead in approximately ten seconds."

Katie let out a frightened squawk before she spun about and shot into the crowd of costumed teenagers and adults, soon vanishing. Ed and Al just stood next to Annora, who was scowling darkly, as they scanned their surroundings with interest. The teenage alchemist suddenly noticed the large banner that hung from the rafters of the mall roof, and read it out loud.

"'The Third Annual Flagstaff Comicon'?" he muttered in disbelief. "What in the hell is that?"

"If I knew, I would tell you," Annora told him as she looked at the crowd skeptically. "So, who wants to go home and fall asleep on the couch, and who wants to suffer from a temporary bout of insanity and go check this stupid thing out?"

"What could it hurt?" Ed admitted hesitantly as he took a step forward.

Famous last words.

Annora and Al looked at each other before they followed the smaller boy into the crowd, both of them wondering if this was the smartest thing to do.

Roughly two minutes after entering the teeming mass of teenagers and young adults, Annora had a very unwelcome brush with someone taking their costume a bit too far. The sixteen-year old had just reached out to grab a hold of the end of Ed's trench coat to avoid losing him when someone groped her butt. The teenager let out an ear-piercing shriek as she jumped a good foot in the air before whirling around to face her assailant. A guy no more than twenty wearing black and purple robes grinned at her roguishly as he adjusted his black wig in one hand.

"Forgive me my lady, but I could not resist to attract the attention of a miko as lovely as you," he stated smoothly. "Would you do me the immense honor and service of bearing my child?"

Annora gawked at him in complete and total disbelief, her chocolate eyes wide as she stared at them man. Fortunately for her, both Ed and Al materialized behind her, the former with a scowl on his face.

"Annora, is this guy bothering you?" the State Alchemist growled acidly, his golden eyes narrowed almost into slits as he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. The man dressed as Miroku swallowed nervously before he hastily made his exit.

"Okay, I'm all for going home now," Annora muttered shakily as Ed cast her a sympathetic look. "After we kill Katie first though."

"I'm gonna have to agree with that idea," Ed said as he looked around them, and frowned when he caught sight of a group of girls looking in their direction. The girls all giggled when they saw that the alchemist was looking in their direction, but a few scowled darkly at Annora.

"You know what, lets move," he whispered urgently, pushing his brother and Annora ahead of him. "Those girls over there are giving me the creeps."

"Good idea," Annora agreed as she increased her pace. Al moved up to the front of the small group and gently pushed his way through the crowd, creating a path for Ed and Annora. Suddenly, a loud shriek rang out from behind them, causing all three teens to jump a good foot in the air.

"OMIGOD, IT'S REALLY HIM!!!!!"

Ed let out a strangled 'ooff!' as a girl wearing an Amestris military uniform and had a silver State issued pocket watch dangling from her belt tackled him to the ground, where she immediately began to squeeze him.

"I'msogladetomeetyou!I'mTristatheGoldAlchemistandIwannahveyourbabies!!!"

Ed managed to decipher the last part of the girl's insane babble and immediately proceeded to freak out when he got to the 'I wanna have your babies' part.

"AL, HELP!!!" he yelped as he struggled against the insane girl, who was currently foaming at the mouth.

"But Brother-" the fifteen-year old began, only to have Annora push him aside and launch herself at the rabid fangirl.

"Get the hell off my friend!" she raged as she grabbed the girl by the back of her collar and forcefully dragged her off of Ed before she twisted her arms around and held them together by the wrists behind the girl's back.

"Hey!!" the fangirl whined, only to have Annora bring her knee up and place it painfully in the small of the other girl's back.

"Shut up!" she snarled, her usually warm chocolate eyes flashing with barely restrained fury. "You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and **will** be used against you, so shut up before I show you one of the many uses of a dirty sock. You have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one, then I will personally go and locate the shittiest idiot out there that received his certificate to practice law from a Cracker Jack box!"

Ed stared at Annora in disbelief as she pulled her ever-present roll of duct tape out of her backpack and proceeded to tape the fangirl's wrists together while she continued reciting her own version of the Miranda Rights.

"You have the right to a jury of your peers; they will all be a bunch of ancient geezers armed with shotguns who will shoot you on sight. You have the right to a fair trial, where I will pay off the judge with a hundred bucks beforehand so that you will get sent straight to jail and be executed by a firing squad. You got it?" she demanded as she glared at the now-trembling fangirl, who nodded her head vigorously. "Good."

Without further hesitation, Annora then proceeded to fasten the other girl's duct-taped wrists to a nearby statue with more duct tape and left her there, not even looking back as she walked away. Ed and Al glanced over at the whining fangirl before they hurried after their friend, not wanting to encounter any other fangirls without Annora's assistance.

"That was a little creepy," Ed pointed out hesitantly. Annora glanced over her shoulder at him and grinned.

"Just a little?"

"Ha hah, very funny."

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Elric," Annora remarked dryly with a slight grin. Ed smirked back at her knowingly.

"Yeah, but it takes someone as intelligent as me to apply it appropriately."

"Ouch. Well you didn't exactly look like you were able to take care of the situation at the moment back there," she said semi-jokingly. "I kind of lost it at the 'have your babies' bit."

"I did too," the sixteen-year old admitted as he frowned darkly. "What the hell is it with people and asking complete strangers to bear their children?"

"I really don't want to know," Annora muttered fervently. "Somehow, I think that we're all better off that way."

"I don't know; I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't mind having a beautiful woman come up to me and ask for that honor," an all-too-familiar voice stated from behind Ed, and all three of them whirled around to see Mustang standing right behind them.

"What the-!" Ed yelped before he managed to squash his shock. "Colonel Bastard, what the hell are you doing here?!"

The older man smirked at the teen, and Annora fought the urge to wipe the smug look off of his face.

"Well, I thought that perhaps you could answer that, Fullmetal."

"Nope, sorry," Annora told Mustang sarcastically. "We're fresh out of answers. We do have an abnormally large surplus of questions though. How many do you want?"

Mustang frowned at the younger girl's impudence, while Ed had to fight back the urge to start snickering uncontrollably. Just as the Flame Alchemist was about to lose his cool, Hawkeye and Havoc walked up right behind him, the latter with a look of pure and absolute bliss etched onto his face.

"Sir, this seems to be a costume party of some sort, although it appears that a large amount of military personnel are in attendance here as well," the strict woman announced as she saluted. Annora opened her mouth to say hello, only to catch sight of Havoc.

"Umm, Miss Hawkeye, what's wrong with Havoc?" she asked curiously. Hawkeye glanced back at the Second Lieutenant and shook her head.

"He had some scantily-clad girl tackle him and start squeezing him, declaring the entire time about how she would do anything for him," the older woman stated. "I had to fire several shots to convince her to leave."

"Great, that means that the cops are going to show up soon," Annora moaned. "Just what we need, more problems."

Mustang had just opened his mouth to deliver a sarcastic comment when a sudden shout from behind them cut him off.

"Resembool Rangers, attack!!"

Annora, Ed, Al, Hawkeye, and Havoc were all treated to the sight of at least twenty teenage girls tackling Mustang and pinning him down to the floor.

"What in the-?" Ed began hesitantly as Mustang let out a very undignified yelp. One of the girls that had attacked him walked in front of the currently prone man and gave him a filthy look.

"Who in the Devil's name are you?!" the Flame Alchemist snarled, only to bite back a curse when one of the girls kicked him in the ribs.

"We are the Resembool Rangers!" the girl in front of him proclaimed proudly. "Sworn enemies of the Miniskirt Army, and defenders of Edward Elric!"

"Defenders of who?!" Ed spat incredulously just as Annora clamped a hand over his mouth and shot him a warning look.

"Don't try anything stupid," she warned seriously as she shoved her friend over in Al's direction. "I'll handle this."

The sixteen-year old squared her shoulders and strode over to where the Resembool Rangers were tormenting Mustang, indicating over her shoulder for Hawkeye to be ready to jump in if things turned nasty.

"Hey, what do you guys think you're doing?" she demanded angrily, causing many of the fangirls to look up at her. "Why they hell are you jumping my dad?"

Several of the girls froze, as well as Mustang, before they started to scramble off of the man. Annora immediately darted forward and seized him by the arm.

"You **owe** me for this one, Mustang!" she hissed in the alchemist's ear as she hauled him to his feet and started to drag him away. Unfortunately, they soon found their path blocked by the girl who had initiated the attack, who appeared to be roughly around twenty.

"So this man is your father?" she asked coldly, and Annora felt a chill run up her spine at the blatant disbelief in the young woman's tone.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"I don't think he's your father."

'_Oh __**shit**__.'_

The woman looked at her calculatingly before she continued. "Personally, I think that you're one of the members of the Miniskirt Army, and you're trying to defend this man just because he's dressed up as your idol."

Fortunately for them, Mustang finally regained the use of his senses and decided to use them to maneuver out of the sticky situation that they had somehow ended up in.

"Young lady, I have absolutely no idea as to what you're talking about, but I do not appreciate you talking to my daughter in that way," he stated sternly. "Besides, you and your crew blatantly assaulted me, and I believe that the police need to be involved."

At the mere mention of the police, all of the Resembool Rangers disappeared in a heartbeat. Everyone else came over while Annora stepped away from Mustang with humongous sigh of relief.

(AN: I apologize to any of my readers that might happen to be members of the Resembool Rangers, or the Miniskirt Army if you feel that I have portrayed you wrongly. This is purely for humor only, and no insult is intended.)

"I believe that we are even now," the Colonel stated with a smirk, and Annora scowled at him.

"Bastard," she muttered defiantly under her breath while Ed shook his head and started grumbling darkly about obsessed rabid fangirls.

"Sir, I don't think that this place is safe," Hawkeye stated as she pulled out her gun and checked the clip. Annora rolled her eyes.

"No, you think?" she asked sarcastically. The First Lieutenant gave the teenager a skeptical look as she arched a pale eyebrow in question.

"By the way, where exactly are we?" Mustang asked as he fixed the three teens with a searching look. "It's almost as though it's Halloween, but that was months ago."

(AN: I am going under the assumption that they actually **have** Halloween in Amestris.)

Annora and Ed exchanged nervous glances before they responded.

"Umm, actually… it **is** Halloween," the sixteen-year old offered hesitantly as she looked directly at the older man. Mustang crossed his arms over his chest and fixed the girl with a clearly disbelieving look, both of his eyebrows arched skeptically.

"Do tell," he stated coolly, causing Annora to squirm under the intensity of his gaze. Any further questions were avoided by a series of piercing shrieks coming from behind them, and everyone turned around to see a horde of rabid fangirls all foaming at the mouth coming towards them at top speed. Ed and Mustang both went dead white as they stared at the incoming teenagers and young women surging towards them.

"Crap, fangirls," Ed whispered hoarsely as Al stated to shake in his armor.

"What are we gonna do?" Havoc wondered aloud, the first words that he had spoken since his little glomping incident earlier.

"I've got a good idea; run!" Annora roared as she whirled around and grabbed Ed and Al before taking off like a shot for the mall exit. Mustang, Havoc, and Hawkeye soon followed the teen's example as they all ran as fast as they could for the doors. None of them were expecting a group of FMA fans to suddenly run up and block the doors, but Mustang soon cleared away this obstacle with one simple snap of his fingers.

Needless to say, the ER experienced a sudden and unexpected influx of patients to be treated for burn wounds that night.

The small group burst out through the glass doors and ran as fast as humanly possible out onto the street down in front of the mall. Loud screams of anger and various professions of love followed them, much to the extreme annoyance of Ed, Mustang, Havoc, and Hawkeye.

"ROY-KUN, I LOVE YOU!!! Please have my children!!!"

"SQUEEEE!! It's Havoc!!!! I LOVE YOU JEAN HAVOC!!! WILL YOU BE MY

BOYFRIEND?!!"

"YOU STUPID SLUT, GET BACK HERE WITH MY BISHIES!!!"

"EDO-KUN, I WANT YOUR BODY!!!!"

"Riza, my love, I fear nothing and wish to be by your side always!!!"

That last statement was greeted with several rounds fired from Hawkeye's gun directed at the idiotic fanboy that was dumb enough to say anything along those lines to the sharpshooter.

"Are they all insane?!" Ed demanded as the six of them all ran down the street as though their lives depended on it. Annora glanced over at him and shrugged.

"Don't ask me!" she pointed out. "Personally, I think that they're all high on some-GAH!!"

The sixteen-year old let out a strangled yelp as one of the fanboys tackled her around the legs and sent her crashing to the ground, effectively knocking the wind out of the teen.

"Hey there, cutie," the boy, who was wearing a Shinsengumi uniform and had his long hair pulled back into a ponytail, purred. "What's the likes of you doing hanging around the shorty?"

Annora froze and her entire body stiffened up as she stared wide-eyed at the boy pinning her down to the ground.

"Who-?" she managed to whisper hoarsely before he held a finger up to her mouth and gave her a seductive grin.

"Shhh," he stated as he lowered his head down towards hers, obviously intending to kiss her. "Let me show you what a real guy can do."

Annora's response came in the form of a head butt to the face before she looked over her shoulder.

"ED, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND GET THIS FREAK THE HELL OFF ME!!!" she shrieked as she struggled against the fanboy that was still pinning her down to the ground. The boy, who was maybe a few years older than her, smirked at the panicked girl knowingly.

"You know, you're pretty when you're mad," he purred. "Your friend can't do anything to help-"

Ed cut off the fanboy in mid-sentence as he rushed over to where he and Annora were and hauled the Shinsengumi-wannabe up by the collar of his jacket.

"You keep your filthy hands the **hell** off her!!" the alchemist snarled as he pulled his fist back and punched the fanboy hard in the jaw with his automail hand. Without a moment's hesitation, Ed reached down and hauled Annora to her feet before they both took off running.

"Thanks!" Annora panted as they tried to catch up with the others, who were currently fighting their way through a tightly packed group of obsessed anime fans.

"No problem," Ed responded as he punched an Envy look-alike that had jumped in front of them in the face. "How the hell are we going to get out of this?"

"I have no clue."

"Damn."

The ground a few yards away from them exploded, sending an unfortunate group of obsessed fans flying into the air with second-degree burns covering their bodies, courtesy of Mustang and his rapidly fraying temper.

"FULLMETAL, YOU HAD BETTER FIGURE OUT A WAY TO GET OUT OF HERE, OR SO HELP ME, I WILL HAVE YOU COURT-MARTIALED!" Mustang roared as he snapped his fingers and started clearing a path through the insane fans surrounding them.

"Oh, real mature Mustang, real mature!!" Annora snapped back over her shoulder as she wrenched a wooden sword out of the hands of one of the anime fans around her and Ed and proceeded to start beating the crap out of anyone stupid enough to come near her.

Ed, who was punching and kicking at anyone and anything that came near him or Annora, glanced over at where Mustang, Al, Hawkeye, and Havoc were.

"Damn it, Colonel Bastard, we've got our own problems over here!" he raged as he and Annora were pressed together back to back. "We're having just as hard a time as you are!!"

"This is bullshit!" Annora growled angrily as she glared at the foaming fangirls that were currently eyeing her in the same manner that serial killer eyes their next victim. "I have had it up to here with these… these psychopaths!!"

"What can we do?" Ed asked rhetorically, irritation evident in his voice. "Every time we get rid of three or four of them, ten more pop up!"

The proverbial light bulb suddenly lit up over Annora's head, and a homicidal smirk crossed the sixteen-year old's face as she glanced over her shoulder at her friend. Ed stared at the girl uneasily; the last time he had seen that smirk, Hawkeye had almost given Mustang lead poisoning via a revolver for a thong underwear set that she had received.

"Annora, why are you smiling like that?" he asked nervously, and Annora's smirk, if at all possible, grew even wider.

"Remember how we got out of the hall closet with Armstrong hot on our heels?" she asked as she faced the rabid fans in front of her with a demonic-looking 'bring it **on**' expression on her face.

"Yeah, so?"

"Why don't you do something like that here?" the sixteen-year old suggested as she brought her stolen wooden sword down full-force on an unfortunate fanboy's skull.

This time, it was Ed's turn to smirk as he clapped his hands together and slammed them down onto the ground. A series of large holes immediately appeared in the ground around them, promptly swallowing the majority of the unwanted rabid anime fans assaulting them. The rest stepped back in surprise, and Annora and Ed took this chance to grab the other members of their group before making a run for it.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Ed roared as all six of them took off running through the darkened streets Flagstaff, with Mustang sending occasional bursts of fire over their shoulders to deter their pursuers. Al chanced a glance over his shoulder before he let out a frightened yelp.

"Brother, they're gaining on us!!" he cried out, terror, as well as fury, evident in his voice. Annora and Ed exchanged worried looks; anything that would make kind and gentle Alphonse mad was definitely a bad thing.

"Annora, which way?!" the teenage alchemist demanded, his golden eyes hard. The girl looked around her before she seized the fronts of Ed and Mustang's jackets and yanked them into an alleyway behind her. The others needed no such motivation as they followed Annora into the suffocating darkness of the alleyway.

Without realizing it, Annora had unconsciously lead all of them into the very area where she had first disappeared into Amestris a few months before. None of them seemed to notice where they had crossed over from Flagstaff and into Central, but they all refused to stop running until they had reached the massive metalwork gates in front of Central HQ.

"What… what in the hell?" Ed gasped as he looked up at the familiar building and realized where they were. "What just happened?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't a dream or a hallucination," Annora remarked sourly as she spread her arms out for her friends to see that she was still wearing the Japanese priestess costume that she'd had on earlier. "Damn it, my clothes are still over at Katie's house!"

Mustang and Hawkeye exchanged nervous glances before they directed their attention over at the three bewildered teens in front of them.

"Let us never speak of this again," Mustang declared sternly. "This never happened; got it?"

"Yes sir," Ed, Al, and Annora all muttered, still slightly dazed from what had just taken place. Mustang nodded before he turned around and headed off in the direction of his military-issued dorm room.

"Oh, and Hawkeye, I'm taking the day off tomorrow," he called out over his shoulder. Havoc muttered something along the same lines as he headed in the direction of his apartment, already deciding that he was going to get **extremely** drunk so that he could forget the night's traumatic events. Ed, Al, and Annora looked at each other and nodded in agreement as they too set off towards the townhouse that the three of them shared, neither of them saying a word for several minutes.

Al was the first one to finally speak.

"Brother, tonight was… interesting," he admitted hesitantly. Ed glanced over at him and arched a golden eyebrow wordlessly in disbelief before he started to search about in his pockets for his house key.

"Yeah, well whatever it was that happened tonight, I sure as hell am not going to it a second time," the teenage state alchemist grumbled, successfully locating the elusive piece of metal hidden in his pocket.

"I'm just glad that it's over," Annora said with a sigh as they unlocked the front door and tromped inside. "Man, I'll never be able to look at a mall in the same way again."

The teen suddenly froze in her tracks as she caught sight of something on the living room floor and crept closer to investigate. Ed and Al looked at each other and shrugged before they followed their friend. When the two siblings caught sight of what Annora was staring at, they couldn't believe their eyes.

"What the-?" Ed began in total and utter disbelief, his golden eyes wide. Al simply stared wordlessly at the objects in front of him with wide eyes

"No way," Annora muttered softly.

In front of them, placed in the middle of the living room floor, were their three pillowcases full of candy. There was a note attached to them, and Annora quickly darted forward and pulled it off before she began to read it.

"Katie came and brought these here," she stated after a few moments of heavy silence. The sixteen-year old looked over at the couch and saw that the clothes that she had been wearing earlier were placed neatly folded on the arm. All three of them were silent for several moments as the strangeness of the evening finally caught up with them.

"Well, I'm going to bed," Ed announced as he turned around and headed up the stairs towards his room.

"Right behind you," Annora agreed as she bolted up the stairs and ran into her room across the hall from the room that Ed and Al shared. Al stood downstairs in the living room for a few more moments before he sighed and followed his brother up the stairs. He'd actually had a lot of fun that night, if you didn't count the rabid fangirls that is.

The next morning, none of the teenagers mentioned their strange adventure the night before, and neither did any of the adults that had been with them. It was almost as though it had never happened.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mustang, contrary to his earlier statement, is currently standing on a large stepladder and is attempting to peel Wandering Hitokiri off the ceiling while under the strict supervision of Hawkeye.)

**Mustang:** I don't see why I'm the one who has to do this.

**Annora:** (Rolls eyes) Because you're the one who was dumb enough to let her get into the candy bowl after she came back from trick or treating. Not to mention the fact that you caused more property damage than the rest of us combined tonight.

**Mustang:** But that corpse was coming after me with a bloody knife!

**Hawkeye:** That was a costume sir, and the knife was fake.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** (Is currently plastered up against the ceiling and has a contented smile on her face) Sugar, sugar, sugar… gooooooddd sugar.

**Ed and Al:** -.-;

**Annora:** -.-; (Looks over at Mustang) I blame you.

**Mustang:** You always blame me.

**Ed:** (Muttered) And with good reason.

**Mustang:** What was that, Fullmetal?

**Ed:** (Adopts and innocent expression that no one buys for a minute) Nothing.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** SugarsugarsugarsugarsugarsugarSugarsugarsugarsugar!!!!!

**Ed and Annora:** (Both groan) Oh God.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Theory of Avarice

Chapter Thirteen:

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Theory of Avarice**

"Not even going to try?" the Izumi asked calmly as she stood up. Greed smirked at her from where he was currently standing encased in stone as he gave a shrug as well as he was able to.

"I have no intention of fighting a woman. All I want from Al is the secret of his transmutation, simple as that."

"And if you get it?"

"Why then I'll have the secret to eternal life, and the world will be on a platter."

"This is getting us nowhere," Izumi stated coldly as she dropped down to the floor and slammed both hands down on the ground, transmuting a giant stone hand and ramming it straight into Greed's face. Annora and Al both let out enthusiastic cheers when they saw the massive cloud of dust that came from the collision.

"You did it!" Al enthused, only to freeze when he, Izumi, and Annora all caught sight of Greed still standing where he had been, smirking triumphantly at them with his amethyst eyes shining in unbound satisfaction.

"Don't look so surprised," he stated with a leer. "I told you before I don't bruise easily. Don't you listen, doll?"

Annora went pale and swallowed nervously as she watched the chimeras that Izumi had knocked out earlier get up and surround her and Sig. The sixteen-year old muttered a foul curse under her breath as Greed effortlessly broke the stone that surrounded him, and Sig immediately stepped in front of Izumi protectively.

"Sig, no," the female alchemist insisted softly. The gigantic man glanced back at her and frowned, his expression stern.

"Yes. I've had my fill of doing nothing."

"It's just I-I can't watch… as more babies are taken from me," Izumi stated in anguish before her expression hardened. "I can't!"

"No."

Greed stared at the two people in front of him disbelievingly while Al and Annora looked on anxiously.

"Gimmie a break," the homunculus said in obvious exasperation. "Are you still up for more?"

Greed received his answer in the form of Sig lunging forward and grabbing two of the chimera guards while Izumi rushed straight for the homunculus. The female alchemist quickly transmuted a spear from the ground and started jabbing wildly at Greed, although the man was able to easily avoid it. Suddenly, the spear fell to the ground with a loud clatter as Izumi doubled over in a coughing fit, blood splattering the ground as the woman fell to her knees retching.

Alphonse and Sig's cries mingled together as they looked over at the fallen woman.

"IZUMI!!"

"Teacher!!"

Greed smirked as he stepped in front of the wheezing alchemist, an unreadable expression evident in his amethyst eyes.

"Oh, I guess you've been pushing yourself a little too hard there, huh?" he asked as he grabbed Izumi by the front of her white shirt and pulled her up to eye level. Sig stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide as he stared at Greed.

"Well, are we done playing games now?" the homunculus demanded as he fixed Sig, Alphonse, and Annora with a searching look. "This sort of business isn't my style, but if you don't cooperate, I won't have a choice."

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF HER!!" a familiar voice raged from the doorway, and Annora looked over to see Ed standing in the doorway while breathing heavily, as though he had just finished running a long distance. A slow grin broke out across the girl's face as she stared in relief at her friend.

"Ed!"

Greed smirked as he looked at the irate alchemist appraisingly.

"Now it's the older brother, huh?" he remarked. "Looks like everyone's here then."

"You messed up," Ed growled angrily, his golden eyes flashing with barely restrained fury. "First you take my brother and friend, now you hurt my teacher too!!"

"Friend or girlfriend?" Greed asked knowingly, and leered in response when the teenage alchemist didn't say anything. "I thought so. Come on. All you have to do is tell me how to transmute a soul into an object and-"

"SHUT UP!!" Ed raged. "Put my teacher down and let Al and Annora go!! Now!!"

"Careful Brother!" Al warned. "He's a homunculus like the others!"

"Hey listen, I've got a hostage here. Is anyone forgetting about that?" Greed demanded.

"I see, no wonder," the teenage alchemist muttered, ignoring the homunculus before he let out a loud yell and lunged at the group of recovered chimeras, getting into a massive fistfight.

"Come on!!" Greed protested in obvious exasperation. "Is anyone paying attention here? Helloo?"

Izumi suddenly stopped playing dead as she straightened up and seized Greed by the front of his jacket before she threw him forcefully into an unyielding cement wall. Annora winced at the unmistakable sound of skull meeting concrete just as the teenage state alchemist yelled at his former alchemy instructor.

"Teacher!"

"Edward!!"

Ed immediately flung himself out of the fray and landed next to her, his expression grim.

"Here!"

Teacher and apprentice both simultaneously clapped their hands together and slammed them down on the ground, creating a barrage of spikes that surged towards Greed in an unyielding wave. The homunculus just smirked evilly at them as the shiny black substance coated his arms and he effortlessly broke all of the stone spikes before they even touched his chest.

"You just don't get it, do you?" he sneered. "I told you both I am the Ultimate Shield!"

Annora hastily sketched a transmutation circle on the cement floor and pressed her bound hands down on it, her eyes riveted onto the scene before her. In a flurry of electric blue light, a large stone block shot up from the ground and nailed Greed right between the legs. The homunculi's eyes bugged out as he gave a strangled grunt at an abnormally high pitch before he collapsed on the ground, his entire body tense.

"Somehow, I doubt that," the teenager remarked as she glared at the fallen homunculus. Ed gave her a relieved smile just as Izumi started coughing once again, and blood splattered the floor as she hacked up the crimson liquid.

"Teacher!!" Ed and Al both yelped panickedly. Sig immediately took control of the situation as he ran up to his wife and held her, his dark eyes worried. Annora looked around them and frowned, her chocolate eyes slightly wide.

"Uh oh," she muttered warningly as all of the chimeras surrounded them. Ed frowned as he glared at the chimeras, only to have them be stopped by Greed.

"Hold it," the homunculus ordered as he stood up, wincing slightly from Annora's assault before he straightened up and cracked his neck. "Let's do this man-to-man."

Ed stared intently at the artificial human in front of him before he strode over towards him, his golden eyes hard. Greed smirked as he watched the silent teenager in front of him.

"I hope you're ready for me to fight back this time, Mister Elric!" he declared. Ed gave the homunculus a dirty look in response.

"Don't worry. I'm always ready when I'm pissed!!" he growled as he lunged forward and transmuted part of his automail into a blade. The teenage alchemist then proceeded to clap his hands together and slam them down onto the ground, creating a series of stone blocks that shot up at random intervals to keep Greed moving while Ed used them to launch himself into the air. The boy swung down forcefully with his sword-arm with a loud cry, causing Greed to jump back to avoid being hit.

"Not good enough!" the homunculus hissed as he lashed out and knocked Ed backwards. The alchemist hopped out of range as he directed a venomous glare at Greed. The homunculus let out a sigh as he stared at the boy.

"You know, you and your brother are being completely dense here," he stated calmly. Ed scowled as he stared at the man in front of him.

"How's that?" he muttered defiantly.

"Well, as two cunning boys who have so diligently pursued their goal, how can you not be understanding when somebody like me simply wants to pursue his own?" Greed asked rhetorically. Annora pulled a face at this comment as she made a gagging gesture.

"Because you're a narcissistic jackass?" she muttered under her breath to no one in particular. Al didn't notice her comment, seeing as he was too focused on the battle taking place in front of him. Ed glared at the homunculus in response, his entire body shaking from fury.

"Our goals are **completely** different from yours!!" he shouted out, venom practically dripping from his words. Greed arched an eyebrow as he smirked at the irate teenager, displaying every single one of his pointed teeth.

"You think so?" the homunculus inquired in a baiting manner. "Homunculus or human, we're all really the same, wouldn't you say? We all live to chase after our own goals and to hell with everyone else."

"Not us!!" Ed shouted as he clenched his fists tightly.

"Oh come on," Greed said as he raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "You're looking for the Philosopher's Stone, right? Do you even know what it takes to make one of those things?"

Annora noticed the sudden look of panic that crossed her friend's face for one brief moment before he exploded into a towering rage.

"I don't care about the Philosopher's Stone!!" Ed snarled, his golden eyes practically blazing with fury. "All I care about is returning my little brother to the body that he was born with!!"

"But he's far better off staying in the body he's got now," Greed suggested nonchalantly. Annora's breath hitched in her throat as she stared in disbelief at the homunculus. Did he have a death wish?

Ed's entire body was shaking by this point as he shot a heated glare at Greed that would have reduced his entire body to ash if looks could kill.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW?!" he shrieked. "Not everyone's like you!!"

"B-Brother…" Al stammered nervously, his armor rattling as he quivered in the corner. Annora looked over at him and shook her head.

"I don't think that he'll hear anything we say, Al," she admitted hesitantly. "Ed looks like he's about ready to do something stupid, and we're probably going to have a mass homicide here on our hands soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Your brother's going to kill Greed, dummy," Marta interjected suddenly. "Well, he's going to **try**."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we already know about the whole regeneration bit," Annora grumbled sarcastically. "Just in case you've forgotten, part of your boss's **brain** landed right by my feet."

"Greed has more than that under his sleeve," the snake chimera countered testily. Annora gave a disbelieving snort in response.

"What are you talking about? He doesn't even **have** sleeves. All he's got on right now is a tank top and that weird fuzzy male stripper vest."

"I meant metaphorically!" Marta snapped irritably as Annora allowed a brief smirk to cross over her face.

"Then you should have said so in the first place," she quipped sarcastically.

"ARRGGHHHHHH!" Marta growled in obvious frustration, and Annora and Al were soon rewarded with the sound of the older woman banging her head against the inside of Alphonse's armor. The fifteen-year old gave the older girl a scolding look.

"Annora, that wasn't very nice," Al admonished sternly, and the sixteen-year old shrugged carelessly in response.

"Since when am I ever nice?" she asked before she jerked a thumb over in Greed's direction. "Especially when some loser drags us into one of his schemes?"

Al sighed just as a comment that Ed made caught both of their attentions.

"If all you homunculi are mistakes created by alchemists, the results of their sins…" Ed began angrily as he attempted to get a better grip on his temper. "Well then an **alchemist** should be responsible for the correcting of those mistakes, starting right now!!"

Annora's breath caught in her throat as she stared incredulously at her friend; the homunculi were created by alchemists? She almost didn't notice the faint look of irritation that crossed Greed's face before he removed his vest and dropped it down on the floor.

"Alright," he stated calmly as he gave the already irate alchemist a knowing smirk. "I didn't want to show this to you since it does get a bit ugly… but since you're getting all serious on me, then I'll get serious too."

_I want a normal life, just like a newborn child_

_I am a lover hater; I am an instigator_

The sarcastic remark that Annora had just been about to make died a cold uncaring death in her throat as the shiny black coating that Greed had used earlier appeared on the homunculi's skin and spread until it had covered him from head to toe. Huge white fangs jutted out from Greed's mouth, and the whites of his lavender eyes disappeared entirely, leaving behind only violet slits in an unnerving abyss of black.

"Holy crap," the sixteen-year old finally managed to whisper hoarsely, her chocolate eyes wide in fear. "We are so screwed."

"What the-?" Ed hissed, just as startled as Annora and Al were. If he could have Greed would have smirked.

_You are an oversight; don't try to compromise_

_I learn to love, to hate it_

_I am not integrated_

"This is my real form," he stated as he motioned Ed forward, his voice somewhat muffled and guttural. "Come and get it."

Ed stared at the homunculus for a few moments before he lunged forward and leapt into the air, skillfully wrapping his legs around Greed's neck and slamming him head-first down into the ground. The homunculus was still for a moment before he looked over at Ed and pushed himself up into a squatting position.

"Didn't even hurt," he stated calmly, the large white fangs jutting out of his mouth giving him the appearance of a perpetual smirk.

"You're lying!" Ed accused, shock evident in his wide golden eyes. Greed stared at him for a moment before he stood up.

"My body's structure and composition are completely unaltered."

_Just call my name, you'll be okay _

_Your scream is burning through my veins_

"We are seriously screwed here," Annora muttered nervously to Al. "That should have at least rattled Greed's brain about a bit, and he's not even affected."

"I know," the fifteen-year old admitted. "This looks really bad."

"So you are the… Ultimate Shield…" Ed stated uncertainly, almost as though he couldn't believe that he was stating the fact out loud. Greed made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat as he looked intently at the teenage State Alchemist in front of him.

"You've never killed anyone before, have you, kid?" he asked suddenly. Shock flickered across the teen's face momentarily before he immediately became defensive.

"What's that got to do with it?" he growled darkly, and Greed made a disbelieving sound.

"I'm saying that you lack the **guts** to kill," he pointed out in an almost mocking manner. "You'll never beat me like that, and you'll never beat the other homunculi like that either."

"Okay, I've had enough of this!" Annora hissed angrily as she drew a transmutation circle in the dust in front of her and placed her hands down on it, shredding the ropes that bound her wrists together before she did the same to the fiber around her ankles. "I'm tired of just sitting here and doing nothing!"

_Sooner or later, you're going to hate it_

_Go ahead and throw your life away_

Ed didn't notice Annora's sudden freedom as he shot a poisonous glare at the homunculus as he gritted his teeth together, his left hand clenching together into a tight fist. Greed grinned at the teenager before he continued.

"So I'll help you find the guts now… by showing you some of your own!" he declared as he lunged towards Ed.

"Al, now!" Annora shouted as she placed her hands on the chains restraining her friend and stopped the transmutation halfway through, effectively shattering them.

"What the-?" Greed began as he turned around to look at the teenagers, his eyes widening in realization as Annora hastily got to her feet and bolted for the door. "Stop her you idiots!"

The sixteen-year old swore as she saw one of the chimeras lunging for her, and managed to dodge it as she hooked her foot underneath the spear that Izumi had used earlier and kicked it up into the air. Annora smirked at her opponents as she caught the pole arm with her right hand and spun it around, smacking Bido full in the face with the butt of the spear.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't just wait for someone to rescue me," she spat as she used the spear like a bat and hit another chimera in the side of the face. "You're gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than that."

Having said this, Annora spun around and bolted towards the doors that Izumi had transmuted earlier. Just as she reached for one of the handles, the doors flew open, and a man from the bar area of the Devil's Nest stood framed in the doorway, his expression one of pure and total panic.

"Greed, the military, they're here-!"

**BLAM**!!

_Driving me under, leaving me out there_

_Go ahead and throw your life away_

Annora flinched at the sound of the gunfire as the man was cut off by the bullet that punched through his brain, blood spraying onto her face and chest, before he crumpled to the ground in a heap, dead. The teenager stood there, pale-faced and stunned as Dorochet and another chimera immediately got up and slammed the doors shut before barring them. The dog chimera made sure that the thick timber in front of the door would hold before he turned around to look uneasily at Greed as he grabbed Annora's hands and bound her wrists together with some spare rope. The teen didn't struggle against him as she stared fearfully at the door, her thin frame trembling slightly.

"So what now?" the chimera asked as he shoved Annora back towards Alphonse, who had been tackled by Law the moment he had tried to run, and tied up with chains once again. The homunculus scowled in response as he glared at the door.

"Well damn it, those bastards went and ruined out fight," he stated in obvious disappointment, and Annora and everyone else in the room sweatdropped in response.

"Well hell boss, don't sound worried or anything," Dorochet remarked somewhat sarcastically just as the soldiers on the other side of the door started to pound on it. Dorochet and the other chimeras immediately pushed several other things against the door to block it before they stepped away.

"Play it cool," Greed stated calmly as he looked at the door. "There's no one in the military that can do us any harm."

_You're like an infantile; I knew it all the while_

_You sit and try to play me, just like you see on TV_

The wall opposite to the homunculus exploding contradicted his previous statement, and when the dust cleared away, Kimbly stood there in the hole, smirking knowingly at Greed.

"Kimbly," Greed growled, and suddenly gasped as he caught sight of Lt. Colonel Archer standing right behind the insane State Alchemist. Without warning, the carbon shell covering the homunculus vanished, leaving behind a somewhat wane-looking Greed.

"Bastard; you've betrayed us, haven't you?!" he demanded, and Kimbly merely smirked in response. Law interrupted their silent stand-off by breaking down the wall behind them with his hammer.

"It's time to move!" he stated urgently as another chimera came up behind Greed and pulled him away.

"C'mon Greed, lets go," he insisted. The homunculus reluctantly followed him, stopping only to pick Annora up and throw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey!" the teen yelped in protest as she started to squirm about in an attempt to get the man to release her. "What gives?!"

_I am an oversight, just like a parasite_

_Why am I so pathetic?_

_I know you won't forget it_

"No, wait!" Ed cried out as he tried to go after them, only to be punched full in the face by Dorochet as Law hoisted Al over his shoulder.

"See ya, kid. It's been fun," the ninja replied as he turned around to leave. Ed scowled as he stood up and prepared to go after the dog chimera.

"You're not going anywhere!" he growled just as several soldiers got in front of him and aimed their guns at him. "What is this?!"

"Please don't resist, Mr. Elric."

"Resist?" Ed asked incredulously. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Annora started to panic as the sounds of Ed's furious shouts faded as Greed and the other chimeras bolted down the sewers, some of the other chimeras being picked off one by one by soldiers ambushing them in the tunnels.

_Just call my name, you'll be okay_

_Your scream is burning through my veins_

"Put me down!" she screeched as a bullet whizzed past her and plowed into the last chimera besides Marta, Dorochet, or Law. "I wanna live, not get shot in the ass by some greenhorn soldier that's trigger-happy! Dammit Ethan, where are you when I need you?!"

"Shut up, kid!" Greed snarled as he purposely jostled the teen. "You're not gonna die."

"Oh, that's easy for you to say. You can't die!" Annora snapped, her temper rapidly fraying from sheer terror. "I, on the other hand, am human, and have very healthy fear of being shot! If I get shot in the right spot, I will die!!"

"Oh put a sock in it," Greed growled before he glanced over at Dorochet, who was growing increasingly more agitated. "Be smart."

"Like hell!!" the chimera snapped as he lunged at the approaching soldiers with his katana drawn. Law and Greed watched Dorochet attack the soldiers following them for a few seconds before they turned around and started to run down the sewer walkway again, each carrying their respective hostages. This came to an abrupt halt when a portion of the wall just in front of them exploded outward.

_Sooner or later, you're going to hate it_

_Go ahead and throw your life away_

Annora and Al both looked up to see their possible rescuer, but only the latter actually succeeded in seeing the individual as the cloud of choking dust cleared. It was Major Armstrong, and Al was incredibly happy to see him.

"My name is Alex Louis Armstrong, heir to the family trade," the massive man stated calmly as he flexed the muscles of his left arm expertly before he adopted a fighting stance. "But you can call me the Strong Arm Alchemist."

"Huh? Major?" Al asked incredulously as he looked up at the man. Annora attempted to look over her shoulder to see Armstrong, but failed miserably. After struggling and squirming about on Greed's shoulder for a few moments, she finally gave up and let her body go limp. It really sucked to be slung over someone's shoulder like a sack of potatoes and be facing in backwards, especially if that individual was Greed.

Someone was going to die for this.

"My demands are simple," Armstrong told the homunculus seriously. "You give Alphonse Elric and his friend to me."

Law gave a disbelieving snort as he set Al down and lunged at Armstrong, swinging his hammer towards the muscular man. Armstrong easily countered the chimera's attack by hitting the hammer with his metal gauntlet and transmuting the hammer head into a small statue of himself.

_Driving me under, leaving me out there_

_Go ahead and throw your life away_

"Hmm?" Law muttered in shock as he stared down at the mini-Armstrong that had replaced the business end of his hammer. "Damn."

"Behold, a little example of the artistic alchemy that has been passed down the Armstrong lines for generations!" Armstrong declared proudly, and Annora immediately let out a heartfelt groan.

"Oh god, if he starts up with the muscle flexing and those freaky pink sparkles, I'm gonna kill myself right now," she muttered. "That is one thing that I just do not need to see, especially if I die by getting shot in the butt."

"Quit your whining kid," Greed grumbled. "Nobody's going to get shot in the ass."

"That's what you think."

This… **informative** conversation was soon interrupted by the sound of Law letting out a feral roar, soon followed by the obvious sounds of him and Armstrong getting into it before there was a loud crashing noise, followed by a chuckle.

"It's been too long since I've had this good of a battle," Armstrong stated with grim amusement. Law looked back at him steadily before he responded.

_Sooner or later, you're going to hate it_

_Go ahead and throw your life away_

"I'd expect nothing less, Armstrong. Your strength hasn't changed at all from back then. I served as a soldier on assignment in Ishbal during the campaign. I know your talents well."

"A former comrade…?" Armstrong muttered faintly in shock, his blue eyes wide as he stared at the chimera in front of him incredulously. "Well then I certainly don't want to kill you. Surrender now and live."

Law gave the Strong-Arm Alchemist a knowing grin, baring his slightly pointed teeth in the process.

"An impossible request."

Almost immediately after Law said this, a small platoon of soldiers ran up behind Major Armstrong and aimed their guns at Greed and everyone else, including Al and Annora.

"I knew it, we're gonna get shot," the girl groaned as she eyed the obviously determined young soldiers, having finally managed to shift herself into a position so that she could actually see what was going on. Greed ignored her nervous statement as he warily watched the young men standing behind the Major.

"It's us, Major!" one of the newly-arrived soldiers called out, cocking his gun. "Step aside. We'll take 'em!"

_Driving me under, leaving me out there_

_Go ahead and throw your life away_

Annora and Al both cringed visibly at this statement.

"Over my dead body," Greed growled in a low tone, almost too low for Annora to actually hear. Almost.

"Wait a sec, why are you helping us?" the sixteen-year old asked hesitantly. "You're the one who kidnapped us. Why do you care?"

"Because you're no use to me dead," the homunculus replied bluntly. "I may be greedy as hell, but I'm not about to let a couple of kids get killed just because some heartless military bastards showed up."

"Umm… thanks, I think."

"Don't mention it."

"Come on now," Armstrong stated sternly. "Don't waste your lives."

Greed gave the State Alchemist a dark smirk as he redirected his attention back towards the blonde man.

_Throw your life away_

"Alright, I'll gladly take that advice," he said knowingly. "But pass a message to Kimbly and Tucker, will ya? Tell them both they've just wasted theirs."

At this statement, Law immediately drove his fist into the sewer wall next to them, causing it to crumble like wet chalk. Unfortunately, this reaction was not limited to the wall, and a section of the ceiling of the sewer tunnel crumbled and crashed down in front of the group, completely blocking off the military in front of them. By the time that Armstrong and the others had managed to clear away the debris, the chimeras used this opportunity to escape with their hostages, seeing as the military had been able to come after them.

Major Armstrong was later heard by several other members of the military using words that are unprintable due to their meaning for the first time in existence. Many of the younger soldiers expressed the opinion that Hell had frozen over, but none of them cared to go and check out the validity of this statement.

_Throw your life away_

--

**Three hours later**

--

Annora let out an exhausted groan as she leaned up against a wall and stared up at the ceiling of the small run-down hut that Greed and the remaining chimeras the followed him, Marta, Dorochet, and Law, were hiding out in with her and Alphonse. It had only been less than a day since she and Al had been kidnapped, but the entire ordeal had been draining nonetheless.

Night had already started to fall, and the teen was more than ready to just fall asleep sitting up, but Dorochet and Marta's anxious whispered conversation, as well as Greed's endless pacing, was keeping her awake.

"So, we're the only ones who got away," Greed stated suddenly as he stared out one of the filthy windows, puffing away at a cigarette and looking mad enough to kill someone. Annora shot the homunculus a classic 'no shit' look as she stared intently at him, her chocolate eyes narrowed slightly.

"No, you think?" she asked, her tone slightly sarcastic, but with an underlying note of fear in it as well. "I just thought that they all ditched us for kicks."

"Yeah, well that little escape attempt of yours earlier was pathetic," Dorochet remarked caustically, and Annora shot him a filthy look in response.

"Oh, you can kiss my lily white ass, you stuck-up prick," she snapped before she gave the chimera a scrutinizing look. "Never mind; I don't want your lips anywhere **near** my ass."

"Annora," Al said reprovingly, and the teen just sighed and shook her head in response.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I'm just really tired and all I want to do is sleep. That, and maybe be let go."

"Not happening," Law stated bluntly. This time, both Al and Annora sighed.

"Well, it was worth a shot," the girl admitted as she leaned back up against the wall. "You can't exactly blame me for trying."

"Then stop trying," Dorochet remarked from where he was sitting. "It's not gonna happen right now, so stop being such a pest."

"I am not a pest!" Annora snapped, glaring angrily at the dog chimera. Dorochet shot the girl a knowing smirk as he yawned loudly, showing that he was obviously enjoying the fact that he was getting on the teenager's nerves.

"You could have fooled me."

"Shut up, dog breath!"

"Make me, brat!"

"Mangy mutt!!"

"Stupid girl!"

"Put a sock in it, you overgrown piece of flea bait!!"

"I'll put a sock in you if you don't shut the hell up!!"

"You and what army?!"

"I'll find one! I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of people out there that would pay me to make you shut up!"

"What, your friends in the vet's office?!"

"No, yours in the morgue!!"

Greed, Marta, Law, and Al all watched the rapidly escalating argument in stunned disbelief as Annora and Dorochet went at it full force, both of them ignoring their observers and any attempts made to stop them.

"You're asking for a toothless mouth, buster!"

"Oh yeah? You couldn't knock the teeth out of a mosquito!"

"Mosquitoes don't even **have** teeth, dumbass!"

"Compared to you, I'm a genius!"

"Then why don't you go play in the food processor, bozo!!"

"It takes one to know one, wench!!"

"Walking flea condo!"

"Bitch!"

Annora smirked as she looked steadily at the older men, her eyes glinting with wry humor.

"Coming from you, that's a compliment," she quipped, and Dorochet growled low in his throat as he glared balefully at the teen.

"Go to hell!!"

"You first."

"Arrgh!!" the dog chimera snarled as he grabbed a fistful of his hair and gritted his teeth, obviously trying to restrain himself from committing murder.

"Alright you two, knock it off," Greed said seriously. "The rest of us are trying to think here."

Annora smirked as she mouthed 'busted' at Dorochet before she closed her eyes and leaned back up against the wall. Dorochet let out a low growl as he glared at the teen for a few moments before he decided that it wasn't worth it, and pulled out his pipe and lit it. Greed just rolled his eyes and sighed as he returned his attention to the window, his mind racing.

'_What the hell am I gonna do now?'_ he wondered silently as he inhaled a lungful of cigarette smoke. A sudden noise behind him caught his attention, and the homunculus turned around to see two people standing in the doorway.

"How long did you think you could last?" the woman, clad in a low-cut black dress that revealed the top of her chest and the Ouroboros tattoo on it, asked as she and the short, fat man accompanying her walked into the room. "It's been a thrill, but time's up."

"And you are?" Greed asked testily as Dorochet and Law both stood up and placed their hands on their weapons.

"From what I've been told, you've already met Gluttony," the woman stated as she cast a sideways glance at the fat man. "As for me… well can't you tell? I'm the new Lust."

Annora drew in a sharp breath as she stared wide-eyed in terror at the woman, realization dawning upon her. They were homunculi, both of them. Greed didn't as much as twitch as he stared steadily at Lust and Gluttony.

"You don't say," he stated simply, his amethyst eyes narrowed dangerously. Lust smiled knowingly at him as she continued her little narrative.

"I don't usually like to be so quick about things, but you have two options, Greed. You can either be sealed again, or you can die right here," she told the other homunculus, a small smile twitching about her lips.

"Who's gonna pull that one off?" he growled angrily, both of his hands automatically clenching into fists. "Don't tell me that it's going to be you."

Lust smiled condescendingly at him before she spoke once again.

"Here's a story; a lowly homunculus tries to defy the person who pulls all the strings us… and is locked in a cell for 140 years," the woman stated, and Greed scowled as he glared darkly at her. "When he escapes, that person gets angry… and gives us everything we need to end it."

"End it, end it!!" Gluttony cried out in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, a stupid smile plastered on his face. Annora stared nervously at the two homunculi in front of her and backed away from them as far as she could, several beads of sweat appearing on her face.

"I'm thinking that we should run right now," she said uneasily to Greed and Al, her attention riveted to Lust and Gluttony.

"Why? 'Cause you're scared of some anorexic chick and a fat dude?" Dorochet asked snarkily. The teenager cast him a nervous glance from the corner of her eye before she even dared to respond.

"That would depend solely on your meaning of F.E.A.R."

"Then please enlighten us," Greed growled, slightly irritated by the teen's interruption.

"F.E.A.R. stands for "Fuck Everything And Run", and I'm starting to think that might be a **really** good idea right now," Annora volunteered shakily. "I'm only sixteen; I want to live long enough to get my drivers license and maybe even vote, not get skewered by some psycho chick that dresses like a whore on Van Buren."

"Well you definitely got the 'whore' part right," Dorochet stated grimly as he drew his katana and deftly sliced apart Al's bonds, ignoring the sound of disbelief coming from the fifteen-year old before he did the same for Annora. "There's no more time to talk kid. Just cooperate."

"Make sure that Marta's safe," Law ordered gruffly as he placed himself in front of the two teenagers. Annora blinked in surprise as she pulled apart the now-loose ropes that had bound her wrists and ankles together before she stood up, eyeing the two homunculi that stood by the front doorway apprehensively.

"But what about you?" she asked softly. "I'm not someone that just leaves a person behind to get slaughtered, friend or foe."

"Just go, and don't make a big fuss about it," Dorochet retorted. Al seemed hesitant to listen to the older man as he stood up and looked straight at him.

"But what are you guys gonna do?" he queried. There was suddenly an abrupt banging sound as Marta became suspicious as to what was taking place.

"Wait, Law! Dorochet, what's happening?!" she demanded fearfully. Annora and Al exchanged worried looks as both of them immediately came to the same realization. There was no 'safe' way out for all of them; Law and Dorochet were going to give up their own lives to protect them, as well as Marta and Greed.

"Get out of here, Greed," Law stated sternly. "Now."

"We'll take care of this," Dorochet agreed, his katana out and pointed directly at Lust and Gluttony. The homunculus looked over that the two ex-military men in disbelief, his lavender eyes wide in shock.

"It's my problem."

"Well it's ours now! We're not going to lose you here!" Dorochet snapped as Law reverted to his half-bull form, much to the surprise of Annora, who hadn't seen it before. "Just see that we're all avenged, that's all I'm asking for."

"What?" Annora whispered hoarsely, her eyes wide. "You're going to sacrifice yourselves? But… but why?"

Lust didn't hear the teen's incredulous comment as she let out a throaty laugh. "My, you sure have some loyal pawns, don't you?"

"Pawns?" Annora growled as she glared at the female homunculus, only to have Al grab her by the shoulder and shake his head slightly. Dorochet paid absolutely no attention to the two teenagers as he adopted a defensive position with his katana, his odd eyes narrowed slightly in blatant defiance.

"You can blame it on the alchemists who engineered me. I was combined with a dog; loyalty just runs in the blood."

"Greed gave us hope for nothing," Law declared proudly as he took a step forward. "Now we'll return the deed."

Lust scrutinized the two men closely for a moment before she directed her attention to Greed and smirked, her light violet eyes sparkling with barely hidden scornful amusement. Annora glanced over at the homunculus questioningly, and noticed that he appeared to be waging an internal battle against himself. This was soon eliminated the moment that Dorochet snapped out a terse command.

"Greed, now!"

His mind made up, Greed dashed over to the door that Al was standing by and grabbed Annora by the sleeve of her letterman's jacket, dragging her along behind him as he looked over and shouted at Al.

"C'mon, kid!" he barked as he kicked the door open. Al was slightly startled by the homunculi's sudden action before he hesitantly ran after him. Annora pushed down any retorts that came to mind as she focused more on running as though her life depended upon it, and trying to keep up so Greed wouldn't end up dragging her along. The three of them ran for a long time before they even dared to slow down, and Annora immediately crumpled to her knees before she flopped down on her back the moment they stopped, gasping desperately for breath. Greed was in slightly better shape as he placed a hand up against the trunk of a tree and got his breath back before he looked over at the two teens.

"Just us now," he muttered, panting slightly. "You two are such good little hostages. You could have fled, you know. I've been a little distracted."

Annora lifted her head up and shot the older man a disbelieving look from where she was lying down. "Yeah right, you had a death grip on my arm back there. The only way I would have possibly been able to escape would be to cut my arm off." The teen looked at her left arm thoughtfully before she continued. "Actually, that might be a possibility there, 'cause I think you cut off all the circulation to my arm."

If he could have, Al would have rolled his eyes in exasperation. "That's not what I'm worried about right now."

"Pfftt, yeah right," Greed scoffed as he focused on the fifteen-year old. "Hey listen, Marta."

"Yeah?" the snake chimera inquired from within Al's armor. Greed paused for a moment before he continued his statement.

"Stay in this can 'till morning. If I'm not back by then, your own your own," he said, and Annora was surprised to see that the homunculus seemed slightly embarrassed. "Just make sure that you have some fun, okay?"

"Greed, what are you going to do?" Marta asked suspiciously, and a familiar smirk crossed the homunculi's face.

"Can't get into it, doll. The talking's done," he stated before he took off running, leaving the two teenagers and the chimera behind.

"What in the hell?" Annora asked in blatant confusion as she stared in the direction the Greed had taken off in. "What was that all about?"

"Let me out, kid!!" Marta snapped suddenly as she tried to push Al's helmet off. "I gotta go with him!"

"Stop!" Al yelped as he held down his helmet with both hands. "He told you to stay inside where it's safe!!"

"I don't care!!"

"Annora, help!" the fifteen-year old pleaded, and Annora soon found herself helping Al hold down his helmet against the struggling snake chimera by sitting on his shoulders as Marta struggled violently against them.

"Let me out, NOW!!" Marta roared as she used her abilities to send Al's body jerking about all over the clearing. Annora, who was swearing like a sailor as she clung frantically to the possessed suit of armor's shoulders, shot a dirty glare in what she assumed to be the older woman's direction.

"No! He told you not to follow him!!" she snapped, and was rewarded for her troubles by a particularly violent jerk that almost unseated her. "Dammit, stop doing that!!"

"Let me go!! I need to help Greed!!"

"NO!!" Al protested as his body clanked all over the clearing, looking as though he were engaged in some sort of weird dance. Annora's grip on his shoulder spikes tightened, and she muttered some incredibly foul profanities under her breath as she focused all her attention on not falling off.

"Lady, if you knock me off, I will **personally** hang you upside-down from a tree by your own intestines," the teenager snarled darkly, but Marta didn't hear her. This little scenario lasted almost until dawn, until Marta finally ran out of energy, and Al let her out while Annora fell to the grass with a relieved sigh. The older woman looked over at her, and then at Al before she simply turned around and walked away without a word.

The two teens sat there for several moments in stunned silence before they were able to even voice the questions that hung heavy in their minds.

"Greed never came back," Al muttered thoughtfully, and Annora looked over at him curiously. "Does that mean that he…?"

"I don't know," Annora admitted wearily as she brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "But we shouldn't assume anything until we know for sure what happened to him. While we're at it, we should probably go and look for Ed as well."

"I hope that Brother's okay," the fifteen-year old said, suddenly worried about his older brother, and Annora couldn't help but laugh. After all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, it was a relief to find something to laugh about, even if it was Al's sudden remberence of Ed's general inability to look after himself.

"What?" Al queried. "What's so funny?"

"N-nothing, I just really needed that," the sixteen-year old admitted, still chuckling slightly. "Man, that was really random."

The possessed suit of armor shot the older girl a skeptical look before he just shook his head and stood up, silently wondering if all girls were this odd. Annora arched an eyebrow at his actions before she shrugged and stood up as well.

"So, how do we get out of here?" she asked, and Al looked about them intently before he pointed in a direction.

"This way," he stated, hoping fervently that he was right. Somehow, he didn't think that Annora would be too happy if he got them lost in the middle of the woods.

--

"Finally, civilization," Annora groaned thankfully as she looked at the houses and streets of Dublith before glancing back over her shoulder at Al. "That was pretty good for not knowing where we were. It only took us about forty-five minutes to get here."

"Well, Brother and I have learned how to find our way through some places without a map," the younger boy admitted as the two walked down an alleyway. "There are a lot of places in Amestris that you **really** don't want to get lost in."

"I hate to break it to you, Al, but there are places like that anywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"There are parts of Flagstaff that you could not even pay me to go to at night, much less walk through without an armed guard."

"Hmm, it's too bad that you don't have one of those with you right now," a familiar voice jeered from above, and Annora and Al looked up to see Envy standing on the rooftop of one of the buildings forming the alleyway. Immediately, the girl covered her eyes with her hands and let out a loud groan as she looked away.

"Oh god, I've gone blind!" she moaned. "I just got a really good look at what's under that fag's miniskirt, and I **so** didn't want to!"

"Is that an insult?" Envy growled as he jumped down from the rooftop and landed in front of the two teenagers. Annora uncovered her eyes and glared at the homunculus.

"No, you think?" she shot back before an unholy smirk crossed her lips. "Oh wait, I forgot, you don't."

"Why you little-" Envy snarled, his violet eyes flashing with evident fury. "I'll get you for that!"

"Yeah right. You couldn't even get me when I was locked up in a cell; what makes you think that right now is any different?" Annora asked sarcastically. "Unlike you, I actually have a **brain**."

If looks could kill, Annora would have been incinerated right on the spot. Al watched the homunculus before them nervously as he glared at the teenage girl, slowly clenching and unclenching his hands before he suddenly came to an epiphany. A homicidal smirk suddenly came across Envy's face as he looked at Annora, and the expression on his face scared the ever-loving **hell** out of her.

"I have orders not to kill the Fullmetal Pipsqueak and his brother," the androgynous homunculus said suddenly, and Annora felt chills go down her spine at the look that entered Envy's eyes. "But they didn't say anything about you."

"Oh hell," Annora hissed before she sprang into action. "Al, run!!"

The two didn't even make it to the end of the alley before Envy suddenly appeared in front of the sixteen-year old and effortlessly drove a fist into her gut, causing her to crumple to the pavement in a heap while gasping for air.

"That was pathetic," the homunculus said nonchalantly as he grabbed Annora by the back of her jacket and hauled her up to eye level with him. "I would expect something better from the little wench that's been hanging around the Elric brats for two months."

"You ever hear of playing possum, jackass?!" Annora snarled as she immediately recovered and used the gap in Envy's defense to knee him hard in the groin. This had the desired effect of Envy automatically letting go of her to hold himself, and resulted in a hard blow to the throat as Annora used his pain to her advantage.

Envy made several loud gasping noises as he tried to breathe; not a smart thing to do after you've just received a good hit to the throat. Not surprisingly, the homunculus passed out from a combination of pain and air loss, assisted by a hefty blow to the head from Al's fist.

"Okay, that was a little too close for comfort," Annora muttered shakily as she stared uneasily at the prone green-haired form lying in front of her. "Let's get the hell out of here before something else happens."

"I agree," Al told her whole-heartedly as the two turned around and headed towards the main street. A furious cry suddenly rang out from behind them, and Annora barely even had time to turn around before she was tackled by a furious palm tree. The two started rolling around punching at each other furiously while the girl attempted to dislodge her attacker.

"Get **off** me you freak!" she spat angrily, her chocolate eyes blazing with fury. Envy scowled at her as he seized her hand and twisted it painfully.

"If you say so!" he roared as he straightened up and threw the girl full-force at a brick wall.

Annora's head collided painfully with the unyielding brickwork, and a dark haze descended upon her just as Al used alchemy to send Envy flying up into the air at a trajectory that would end up with him landing outside of Dublith. The last thing that she heard was Al saying her name before darkness clouded her vision, and oblivion claimed her very being.

--

Well, here's the thirteenth chapter, and I hope that you all like it! I know that a lot of people were kind of wondering about the last chapter, and I will admit that I just kind of did it as a filler of sorts, but also because I just really liked the idea of introducing Ed and Al to Halloween, not to mention their massive fandom in the real world. The plothole bunny must've had a field day with that chapter, because it was mostly just random insanity that **Mustang-013**, **Samurai Rin 63**, and I came up with during a 'what if' conversation a long time ago.

Not to mention the fact that I was on a pre-Halloween sugar rush about half the time that I typed it.

There is no end to my insanity.

Anyways, I hope that you lot aren't too mad at me for yet another cliffhanger. But, that'll just make you appreciate my next chapter all the more, won't it?

(Ducks flying rotten fruit and vegetables)

Then again, maybe not. Okay then, on to the reviews!!

**Reviews**

(Yes, these will be for both chapters)

rockleefan: Yes, I most definitely agree with you. It drives me nuts to read about people falling into another world, or time, and they automatically adjust to it. I know that I would be hyperventilating and freaking out in general, even if it **was** the FMA world that I fell into. Annora's a little more logical than I would be, but her and my reactions to the same situation are pretty much the same thing.

Lady Renyel of Arella: Greed is actually the least evil out of all the homunculi, so I have no problem writing about him. I'm glad that you liked the chapter.

Mimori Kiryu: Thanks for the character, I really appreciate it! Anyways, I'm really glad that you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry about following 'Al, Captured' so closely, but I couldn't find another way to introduce Greed into the storyline.

Mei Fire: Yes, Annora loves to insult the people who upset her, and she does not respond well to kidnapping. Greed probably should have done his homework before taking her as well as Al.

Syldoran: Sorry about that. But as you said, it was sort of the only way since Ed kills Greed maybe an hour or less after he leaves Marta and Al back in the forest. Anyways, I hope that you liked this chapter.

bluehighlighter: Why thank you. I am honored, and I'm glad that you like my story, even though it's in a category that you don't usually like. Although I can't really blame you for not reading an OC fic, because so many of them have those damn Mary-Sue's in them. Rabid fangirls and Mary-Sue's are not my friends, and I have a special method for dealing with them. Let's just say that it involves Kimbly and a sealed off school gym, as well as nitroglycerine.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: No, Greed will never get the chance to beat up Ethan. Mustang might though. Oh crap, spoiler alert!

Zilo's Blue Pen: Yeah, that bit with Kimbly and ghosts was just something random that I thought of. Who knew that the psychopath was scared of dead people? Thanks for the compliment; I'm glad that you liked the chapter. The reason that I wrote Annora that way was because once I had gotten over the initial shock of being kidnapped, I would have gotten really sarcastic. I get that way when I'm scared or nervous.

The Shadow111: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked it.

Katatsubasa-no-Tenshi: Yes, Ed and Annora do tend to fight a lot. Maybe that's because the two of them are both equally stubborn, and both of them are convinced that they're right. A wake-up call might be in order soon for Ed.

DESTROY-THE-HORMONES: Yeah, guys are a little confusing. I'm 19 and I still don't understand them sometimes, especially my brothers. Anyways, somehow I think that Greed would think twice before kidnapping you.

**Greed:** Are you kidding?! I may be a homunculus, but there are limits to what I'm willing to go through to find eternal life!

Siacatmesecat: Sorry about that, but that's how I talk sometimes. When I get scared, I start to swear sometimes, and that is reflected in Annora. I'll try to take care of it, but as my older brother puts it, sometimes a curse word is used just to put emphasis on a word or statement. 'It's cold' means nothing, but if you say 'It's f#ing cold!', it adds emphasis to the statement. But this is also the same person who thinks that almost getting bit by a rattlesnake is no big deal, so I don't put too much faith in his statements sometimes.

Darkwick: Why thank you. I'm really glad that you think that way. Most of the story's going to be mostly the occasional fluff between Ed and Annora, as well as the usual fights between the two. Don't tell Ed that he's short, even though he is addicting. He just might decide to go after me when I'm sleeping, and that will not be fun.

richard9311: Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I'm glad that you like the story!

Lost and Never Found: Yeah, you're probably right about that. Thanks for reviewing!

Luca4ever: Thank you. I'm really glad that you like it.

Kefra: Umm… advice, let's see. I would have to say keep writing, and try to develop your style as much as possible before posting your stories. Some of the stuff that I wrote three years ago makes me cringe when I look at it now, because my writing as changed so dramatically since then. That, and some of it is **really** bad. I'm aiming for publishing an original story of my own someday, so I started a fanfic on the advice of a friend to help perfect my writing style, and boy am I glad that I did! Good luck, and I hope that I was able to help you!

bluehighlighter: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked the Halloween special. Sorry about the sporadic updates, but school comes first for me, and college is a pain in the butt sometimes.

Kikuaza: Well, I've never even been to an Anime Convention before, so I was just assuming what it was like. I'm glad that you liked my special, and yes, Annora does live in a very scary world.

Liah Cauthon: You have a Flamel necklace? Cool!

DESTROY-THE-HORMONES: But the stupid idiot didn't have a baseball bat, which is why Annora stole his sword and used it as a weapon. If she'd had access to a Louisville Slugger, I can guarantee you that she would use it. Kicking doesn't work too well when you're wearing straw sandals. Hope you had fun on Halloween!

MithLuin: Dude, I have a **teacher** reading my stuff?! And a chemistry teacher no less! That is so awesome!! Science is one of my favorite subjects, and so is English! Wow! Thanks for checking out my story!!

richard9311: Yeah, I know. It was a filler/Halloween special chapter, so it was supposed to be a little nutty.

Zilo's Blue Pen: Thank you. I'm glad that you appreciated my little insane special.

rockleefan: Yeah, those fangirls were freaks. Thanks for pointing out my mistake on Halloween, but you created a good explanation for it. That's pretty cool. No, Annora is still going back to Flagstaff eventually, but that's another thing entirely. And yes, the picture that Katie gave Ed was of Annora in the first costume, which ironically happened to be Kagome's school outfit from 'Inuyasha', and Annora went dressed up as Kikyo. My mind works in strange ways, huh?

Luca4ever: Just tell them that a friend forwarded you a really funny e-mail. That's what I do.

Syldoran: Sometimes I wonder about the merits of Annora saving Mustang's sorry butt. Maybe she should have left him there to be mauled by the Rangers, but then Hawkeye would be sad, and we would have no more comic relief with Annora harassing him. Oh well, he can live for now. Envy can't though. (Snaps fingers and Envy spontaneously combusts.)

Lady of Summer Haze: You live in Holland? Cool!! Sweet, my fans are international!

Naomi-Yuko: Thank you!

Siacatmesecat: You live in Phoenix? Wow… that's really wild. I have family there. So you'll be dressed as Dante? I'm scared now. Actually, I think both Ed and I should be worried.

agent000: I **hate** Mary-Sue's with an eternal passion, and they shall all either die from me incinerating them while using Mustang's gloves, or being used as transmutation fodder. But I'll need a lot of them to actually make anything, because they're not worth jack shit. I'm glad that you liked my depiction of the Resembool Rangers, and that you thought that it was funny. Well, good luck with the chat room.

Naomi-Yuko: But the reason why I put up the Halloween special is because I hadn't finished this chapter yet, that, and I really wanted to do something funny for Halloween. I'm glad that you enjoyed the face-off between Mustang and the Resembool Rangers.

CrazedNeko: Yeah, I had to look up that word, and maybe even a few others, just so I could do that. You have no idea how hard it is to find an Irish website that does translations.

Lady Renyel of Arella: Yes, this is in the 'filler' category, but I'm not at all ashamed of it.

The lyrics are from the song _Sooner or Later_ by Breaking Benjamin. I do not own 'FMA' or any of its respective characters, but I do own Annora, Ethan, and Katie.


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Revelations

Chapter Fourteen:

**Chapter Fourteen:**

**Revalations**

"Brother! Brother, where are you?!" Al yelped as he frantically ran through the streets of Dublith, holding Annora's limp form in his arms. He had gotten a little lost while trying to find a hospital or something, and so had just settled for trying to go back to Izumi's house instead.

So far, all he had managed to do was scare a few stray dogs, and get even more lost.

"Why does this always happen to me?" he muttered as he looked down at the unconscious girl that he held in his arms. A trickle of blood ran down the side of her pale face from the gash at her hairline that had resulted from Envy throwing her into a wall, and her breathing was harsh and sporadic. Al knew that he had to get Annora some medical treatment soon; otherwise the consequences might be severe.

He'd had enough of people close to him dying to last him a lifetime.

"C'mon Annora, hold on just a little longer," the fifteen-year old prayed as he finally came to a street that he recognized. "You're stronger than this, I know you are!"

Al ran off down the street in a hurry, praying desperately to any possible divine being that might be nearby that his teacher was back at the butcher shop, and not at the local hospital.

--

Annora let out a pained groan as she slowly opened her eyes and saw sky above her. The sixteen-year old lay on her back for a few more moments, staring listlessly at the wispy clouds that drifted across her vision as she mentally played catch-up. The last thing that she remembered was Envy chucking her into a brick wall like she weighed absolutely nothing at all, and after that, everything was a giant blank.

"Okay, this is a little odd," she muttered as she slowly sat up and looked around her. She was lying in the middle of a grassy field, just outside of some farmland and a river. If the teenager squinted a little bit, she could see the rooftops of some houses just over the rise.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud as she whirled around. "Ed? Al? Are you guys here?"

The only answer that she got was the wind whistling through the uncut grass around her, and for the first time in several months, Annora felt the cold chill of being completely and utterly alone.

"Edward? Alphonse? Someone, please answer me!!" she shouted, her voice rising up to a panicked pitch as she looked about her anxiously. The sounds of children talking suddenly reached her ears, and it seemed like they were coming from just beyond the crest of the hill.

"Brother, did you just hear something?" a young, and somewhat familiar voice asked.

"Nah, it was probably a bird or something."

Annora's eyes widened as she immediately dashed over the top of the hill, and skidded to a stop as she took in the strange sight before her.

"No way," she breathed incredulously as she stared at two boys kneeling in the grass in front of her. They were sketching transmutation circles into the dirt, and the slightly older-looking one had long blonde bangs that went down to about his chin, as well as short cropped hair. The other one looked at his older brother with wide smoky gray eyes, and short golden brown hair.

"There, that should do it," the blonde-haired boy said confidently as he rocked back on his heels. Annora couldn't stop staring as she hesitantly took a step back from the two boys, only to let out a startled yelp as the golden-haired boy, who looked suspiciously like a younger Ed, placed his hands on the transmutation circle and caused it to start glowing.

Out of the dirt slowly rose a twisting shape that seemed as though it couldn't decide what it wanted to be, and Annora hesitantly took a step forward to closer inspect what the two boys were doing. Slowly, the formless mass took shape, and finally settled into the form of a small metallic toy horse. Annora stared intently at the newly-formed toy for several moments before she glanced over at the younger boy to see that he too had transmuted a toy horse, only more deformed than his brother's.

"C'mon Al, let's go show Mom!" the blonde-haired boy declared suddenly, and Annora felt her legs go out from underneath her as she stared after the two boys as they ran off in the direction of their house.

"Al?" she whispered hoarsely, her chocolate eyes wide. "Al, as in Alphonse?"

Now officially freaked out, Annora bolted to her feet and started running off towards the village that was a little ways off from her. She needed to find a pay phone, call Ed, and tell him where she was. The sixteen-year old was positive that this was some sick joke that Envy or one of the other homunculi were playing on her, and she had absolutely no intention of letting them know how badly they had managed to get to her.

All of a sudden, Annora tripped and fell, going right through a very solid tree in the process. The teenager slowly pushed herself to her feet and stared at the massive tree in front of her in surprise, her eyes wide. She took a deep breath and slowly reached out with a trembling hand to touch the rough bark, hoping to reassure herself that she had just imagined what had happened. Instead, her hand went right through the trunk.

It was at that moment that she screamed.

--

Sig had just finished bandaging up Izumi's damaged hand when Al burst into the shop, carrying an unconscious Annora in his arms.

"Teacher, Annora's hurt!" the fifteen-year old wailed panickedly, obviously at a loss for what to do. The older woman looked up at her student in surprise before she immediately strode over to asses the situation.

"First of all, Alphonse, take her and put her on the couch in the living room," Izumi ordered sharply. "Sig, call the doctor and tell him that we have a patient with a possible concussion. Al, I want you to get a bowl of cold water and a rag so we can clean off that blood and see how much damage there is. Mason, find some pillows and a blanket that we can use to make her comfortable."

All of the men immediately snapped into action as Izumi set about gently removing Annora's jacket and shoes, expertly feeling over the girl's body for any other possible injuries. Satisfied when she found only a few bruises located on the teenager's ribs and chest, and no broken bones, Izumi accepted the bowl of water and the rag that Alphonse offered to her and dampened the rag before she began to gently blot away the blood that was clotting around the gash on Annora's forehead. The teenager flinched at the contact to her head, but other than that, did not move.

"Teacher, what are we going to do?" Al asked worriedly just as Mason came in with the requested pillow and blanket. "Annora'll be all right, won't she?"

Izumi sighed as she continued to blot away the blood that was still streaming sluggishly from Annora's head wound.

"We'll clean her up as best as we can, and once the doctor gets here, we'll let him do his job," the female alchemist admitted. "After that, all we can do is hope and pray."

"What… what do you mean?" the fifteen-year old asked nervously. Izumi didn't look at him as she methodically wiped away the blood on Annora's face that had dried while Al pulled the blanket over Annora's senseless form.

"Alphonse, it's possible that she may never wake up from this," Izumi finally said. "With head injuries like this, it's hard to tell if someone will survive or not."

Al stared at his old alchemy teacher incredulously for several long moments before the tense silence was broken by the doctor's arrival. As Izumi explained the situation to the man, Al snuck outside into the back yard and sat down, looking up at the night sky.

He really wished that Ed was there.

--

Annora finally managed to get herself under control after several long minutes of hyperventilating, although she freaked out even more when she hit the five-minute mark on hyperventilating and she still hadn't passed out.

"This is a dream, this has **got** to be a dream!" the sixteen-year old stated anxiously as she took deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. "There's no way that I'm… dead…"

She kicked at the tree trunk to emphasize her point, only to let out a frightened yelp as she foot went right through the solid wooden trunk.

"Gahhh!! It's not a dream!"

It didn't look like she was going to calm down any time soon.

--

Ed stared anxiously at the door in front of him, worry evident in his golden eyes as he held his battered automail arm pensively. He didn't know how long it would take for him to actually work up the nerve to step inside the butcher shop, but he wanted to forestall it for as long as possible.

He had killed someone last night.

It didn't matter that it had been a homunculus, it didn't matter that Greed had deliberately allowed him to deal the lethal blow; all that mattered was that he had killed someone.

The teenager alchemist fought back the bile that rose up in his throat at the thought of what had taken place only a few hours ago, and tried not to gag at the bitter metallic taste that welled up in his mouth. Why had Greed insisted that he fight him, even though Al and Annora had been freed before he had even found the homunculus in Dante's mansion, standing in the same room as the old woman's corpse?

He felt dirty, unclean. He felt like a murderer.

Ed muttered a brief profanity under his breath as he looked around him, not caring about the bright dawn that was slowly becoming overwhelmed by the clouds being blown towards Dublith, bringing with them the promise of rain. As far as he was concerned, he welcomed the gray darkness and gloom that the storm would bring; it matched his mood perfectly at the moment.

Was this part of becoming a State Alchemist? He knew that in the event of a war, he and other State Alchemists would be called up onto the front line to crush their opposition, hopefully to save the lives of other soldiers in the State military.

The bitter metallic taste welled up in his mouth once again at the mere thought, and Ed knew that he would never be able to willingly kill someone just because they weren't on his side. He knew that he had to get rid of the other homunculi though, because something deep inside told him that they wouldn't just leave him be. Especially Envy; something about the green-haired, androgynous homunculus just screamed 'hatred' and 'danger' to him, and he'd have to be a total idiot to miss it.

The older Elric heaved a sigh as he decided that it was now or never, and took a few steps towards the door.

"Brother?"

Ed's eyes widened as he turned around to see Alphonse standing right behind him, the fifteen-year old staring at him curiously. Before he could say anything, he was suddenly swept up into a bone-crushing hug, and the possessed suit of armor started babbling away rapidly about something. All the State Alchemist caught were the words 'Annora', 'Envy', 'Teacher' and 'concussion', before he managed to snap himself out of his shocked state.

"Al, calm down!" he yelped as his younger brother's metal breastplate dug painfully into his jaw. "Just calm down, and then tell me what happened!"

"Brother, when we were on our way back to Teacher's house, Annora and I were attacked by Envy, and he-" Al began before Ed's eyes widened and he cursed before he bolted into Izumi's house, all of his previous hesitation forgotten.

"Teacher, what happened?!" he demanded as he burst into the living room, where he was met with the sight of the local doctor finishing up bandaging up Annora's forehead as the teenager lay there senseless on the couch. Izumi looked up at him and gave the teenage alchemist a sympathetic look before she motioned him over. Ed hesitated for a few moments before he swallowed nervously and approached the couch where Annora was currently lying, completely dead to the world.

"Edward, she has a nasty concussion, so there's no guarantee that she'll wake up… ever," Izumi explained gently as Ed stared in horror at his friend. "Right now it's hard to tell. Annora may pull through, or she may not. It all depends on her for now. There's really nothing that we can do for her."

Ed gritted his teeth as he clenched his right hand tightly, his golden eyes flaring in self-loathing. Once again, he had been too late to keep someone else that he cared about from being hurt.

"Al said that Envy did this, correct?" he asked with forced calm.

"Yes."

"I'm going to kill that bastard!" the sixteen-year old snarled as he spun around and headed for the door, only to have Izumi place an arm in front of him, barring his way.

"And how are you going to accomplish that?" the older woman demanded seriously, her dark eyes narrowed intently. "You've already been through the wringer, and your arm looks like it belongs in the scrap heap."

Ed frowned, but said nothing. Izumi arched an eyebrow before she pointed upstairs.

"I want you to get cleaned up, and then once you're finished, you need to come back downstairs so we can get some of your injuries taken care of," she said in a no-nonsense tone. "Both you and Al are a mess."

"Yes Teacher," Ed muttered as he turned around and headed upstairs, silently plotting different ways that he would kill Envy when he got his hands on him.

"Oh, and Edward?"

The teenage State Alchemist turned around halfway up the stairs and looked down at his teacher.

"Yeah?"

"Don't even **think** about sneaking out."

Ed swallowed nervously as he nodded wordlessly at his instructor's statement before he turned around and went up the rest of the stairs. Something told him that Izumi would be keeping a **very** close eye on him for the next few days.

--

Annora frowned darkly as she unconsciously rubbed her right forearm, her chocolate eyes scanning her surroundings intently. Up until a few minutes ago, she had been out in the field where she had woken up. Now, however, she was trapped in this long dark corridor with no way out.

"Well this sucks," she remarked dryly as the hair all along the back of her neck stood up. "What is it with me and somehow ending up in these creepy places?"

A rustling sound echoed behind the teenager, and Annora whirled around to look down the pitch-black corridor, her eyes wide.

"Okay, that was more than a little creepy," she whispered with a shudder as she turned back around, only for the rustling sound to occur again. This time, it was a lot closer.

"Oh shit."

Without even thinking, Annora bolted down the hallway as fast as she could go, muttering every single prayer that she could remember under her breath. Her grandmother had always said "When in doubt, pray", and for some reason praying sounded like a really good idea when she was trapped in some endless dark fortress with God knows what slithering after her.

It was almost like some of the nightmares she used to have when she was very young, the ones that used to send her running into her parents or Ethan's room quaking in fear.

"Please oh please, let there be a door out of here or something!" the sixteen-year old muttered fervently as she skidded around a corner and took off like a shot. Whatever was chasing her was getting closer, and it hit the wall behind her with a loud 'thud'. Annora swore under her breath as she reached out to touch to wall besides her and her hand closed around a doorknob.

"Thank God," the teen whispered as she turned the knob and immediately stepped into the room beyond, not caring about what lay ahead of her. A bright light flashed in her eyes, and Annora flinched as she shielded her face with her arm. Once her eyes finally adjusted to the light, the sixteen-year old saw that she was in a brightly-lit room with several people in it.

"Umm… hi," she said nervously as she gave a sheepish grin and waved at the people, several of which seemed to be staring at her. None of them reacted to her sudden and impromptu arrival, and it took a few seconds for Annora to realize that nobody could see or hear her, just like the two boys on the hill.

The teenager frowned as she let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, this is awkward. Nobody can see me or hear me, and apparently I can pass through solid stuff. Why do I get the feeling that I'm nothing more than a ghost?"

A soft gasp coming from the prone form lying on a bed nearby startled her out of her quiet fuming, and Annora looked over at a pale woman staring directly at her.

"I can see you," she whispered faintly, and Annora's eyes widened in shock.

"You can… but how…?"

"Mom, are you okay?"

Annora looked over at the speaker, and realized that it was the blonde-haired boy from the hill earlier. The sixteen-year old looked down into the boy's wide golden eyes, and realized almost instantly who it was.

"Edward…"

The woman's eyes flickered in between Annora and the little Ed before she gave a tired smile and looked down at the boy.

"Edward, would you be a sweetheart and transmute something for your mother? Yes, I know… a ring of flowers would be nice," she muttered faintly as a contented smile fell over her face. "You see… you father used to always… make them for me…"

Annora's eyes widened in shock as the woman's green eyes faded, and her hand fell limp, much to the dismay of Edward and Alphonse, who both started bawling. Was this Ed and Al's mom?

The teenager started to shake violently as she realized that she had just watched the woman die, and her entire body convulsed as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"What… what **is** this place?" she whispered fearfully. "This can't be real. Ed and Al are my age, not little kids! Their mom died long before I even came here, yet I just saw her die! What the hell is going on?!"

Not surprisingly, nothing answered her. The sixteen-year old felt her throat tighten as she stared at Trisha Elric's unmoving body, and suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. Annora whirled around and bolted out of the room, phasing effortlessly through the front door as she ran out of the house and into the pouring rain outside.

The teenager didn't stop running until she reached the tree that she had fallen through earlier, and paused by it. Hesitantly, she held out her hands facing palms-up into the rain, and gave a startled gasp as the falling water fell through her palms and fingers without hesitation. Annora stared at them for several seconds before she gave a sigh if defeat and lowered her hands, shoving them deep into the pockets of her jacket.

"So… I guess that means I'm a ghost, huh?" she muttered quietly as she looked up at the overcast sky. "The only person who could see or hear me was a dying woman… man, does irony love to screw with me or what?"

The wind blew around her gently, and Annora gave a quiet sigh as she looked out at the rain falling steadily down on the surrounding countryside.

"I didn't want to die. All I was trying to do was help my friends," she whispered softly as she closed her eyes and two tears slowly welled up and fell down to the ground.

"I'm so sorry."

The teen just stood there out in the rain for several minutes, each second seeming like an eternity, completely oblivious to the elements that raged around her, yet they couldn't affect her in the slightest. Finally, Annora heaved a heavy sigh of defeat and opened her eyes just as another warp seized her, and she was flung into the oppressive darkness of the black corridor once again.

--

"Brother, how's she doing?"

Ed, clad in a clean blue long-sleeved shirt and black jeans, looked up from where he had been staring off into space and sighed as Al came into the bedroom where Annora had been placed, holding a tray with a bowl of stew, a small loaf of bread, and a mug of hot tea in his gauntleted hands.

"Well she muttered something about an hour ago, but I didn't exactly catch what she was saying," the older Elric admitted as he shifted about in his chair, which was placed right by Annora's bedside. "It sounded like 'So happy it's Thursday' or something like that."

If he could have, Al would have arched an eyebrow at their friend's odd statement. "Don't worry about it, Brother. You say weird things in your sleep all the time."

"Yeah, but I wasn't in a coma when I said them," Ed retorted grumpily as he eyed the food on the tray in Al's hands. "Who's that for?"

The fifteen-year old gave an amused chuckle as he handed the food over to his older brother. "It's for you. Teacher told me to bring it up to you so you didn't starve yourself. She also told me to tell you that you need to get some sleep once you've eaten so you don't make yourself sick from staying up for two nights in a row."

"Hey, I got plenty of sleep last night!" Ed retorted hotly as he dug into the food, tearing off a hunk of bread and dipping it into his stew before he shoved it into his mouth. Al sighed and rolled his eyes upwards at his brother's lack of manners as he gently sat down on the end of Annora's bed.

"Brother, you're not fooling anyone. We all know that you snuck out of your room last night to keep an eye on Annora," he scolded gently. Ed scowled, but said nothing as he continued to wolf down his food.

Al sighed and shook his head at his older brother's stubbornness. It had been over a day since Annora's encounter with Envy, and the girl still hadn't woken up. Ed had refused to leave her side for all of yesterday, at least until Izumi had brandished a huge butcher knife in his direction and politely told the teenage alchemist in a no-nonsense tone to get his ass to bed.

"So, Al, what have you been up to all day?" Ed finally asked as he finished the last piece of bread and set to work on the remaining stew in the bowl. Al started to reply, only to be interrupted by a loud buzzing noise emanating from Annora's backpack.

"Uhh… what was that?" Ed asked uneasily as he and Al both looked down at the blue-gray canvas bag lying at the foot of the bed. During the entire time that he, Al, and Annora had been living together, neither of them had ever dared to go into the girl's bag based on the very real fear that she'd kill them in a very violent manner if either of them were ever dumb enough to go through it.

"I don't know," the younger Elric admitted. "Ed, we should probably just leave it-"

Al stopped in mid-sentence as Ed stood up and unzipped Annora's backpack, pulling out her buzzing laptop. The teenager sweatdropped as the State Alchemist placed the computer of the bedside table and pressed down on the catch, flipping the lid open.

"Brother, you really should learn to respect people's privacy more," Al scolded, and Ed looked back at him and gave a nonchalant shrug, not noticing the words 'web-cam activated' on the computer screen.

"Al, she's unconscious right now. What more can we do?" he reasoned before a frown crossed his face. "Besides, knowing my luck it's probably that crazy friend of hers who wants to talk to her or something like that."

"Actually, it's her older brother who wants to know what the hell is going on," Ethan stated sharply, and Ed spun around in his seat with a yelp to stare at the soldier. "Why are you messing around with my sister's computer?"

"Uhh…" Ed said nervously, his golden eyes wide as he remembered the last time that he had talked with Ethan. The soldier frowned, and drummed his fingers on the table as he leveled a piercing glare at the teenager through the camera lens.

"Well kid, I'm waiting," he said, the warning tone in his voice blatantly obvious. Ed briefly shuddered at the thought of what would happen if he told the older man that his younger sister had a concussion before he decided to tell the truth… sort of.

"Annora's really sick right now," he offered lamely before he gave a sigh and ran a hand through his bangs. "Actually, she's sleeping because she's been really ill."

Ethan immediately went from 'interrogation mode' to 'concerned older brother' in less than a second as he leaned closer to his own web-cam.

"Why, what happened?" he demanded. "Is she all right?"

"Well, she's been throwing up a lot, and she hasn't woken up almost all day…" Ed half-lied as he cast a glance over his shoulder at the still-unconscious girl, hoping that she would magically wake up and rescue him from being grilled by her older sibling.

"Brother!" Al hissed reprovingly, to which Ed leveled a warning glare at him, and he wisely shut up.

"Who else is there with you?" Ethan demanded suddenly, and Ed quietly cursed Al's interference. "Not to mention where are you guys? It doesn't look like anywhere in our house."

"My younger brother, Al, is here with me right now," the teenage alchemist responded as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "We're out our teacher's house right now. She's helping us take care of Annora, since there's no one home at her house to keep an eye on her."

"I want to talk to your teacher, right now," Ethan said sternly. "Could you please get her for me?"

"Just a second," Ed said as he stood up and headed for the bedroom door. As he passed his younger brother, he whispered urgently, "Al, stay out of sight of the camera. If Annora's reaction when she first saw you was anything to go by, her family's never seen anything like you before. We don't need him asking more questions than he already is right now."

"Okay, but hurry Brother," the younger boy responded as he cast a nervous glance at the laptop. "I don't think that he'll wait too long before jumping to conclusions."

Edward nodded in agreement as he quickly left the room and went downstairs, heading straight for the kitchen. The steady clinking sound of dishes being washed, and the sound of muttered grievances indicated that Mason had been wrangled into doing the dishes for the night. The alchemist paused in the doorway, and jumped a good foot in the air as someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

"What the-?!" Ed began as he spun around, only to falter when he came face-to-face with his alchemy teacher. "Teacher?"

"What is it, Edward?" Izumi asked calmly. Ed decided that it was best to just get on with it and tell his teacher what was going on before she beat it out of him.

"Well… Annora's brother just contacted us, and Al and I told him that she was sick, and now he wants to talk to you," Ed stammered hastily, and Izumi arched a dark eyebrow delicately.

"Hmm… that's odd. I never heard the telephone ring," she mused thoughtfully, and Ed squirmed slightly at the penetrating stare that he was given.

"Well, he's not on the phone," he admitted reluctantly, and his teacher's eyes narrowed in response.

"Oh? Then how is he communicating with you?" she asked quietly. Ed's eyes widened, and his mind froze. He was in so much trouble.

"Umm… well…" he stammered nervously, and quailed under Izumi's fierce stare.

"Edward…" she said warningly as she cracked her knuckles in a meaningful manner. That was all it took for Ed to spill the story behind his friend… at least part of it.

"Teacher, just please don't tell him about Annora's concussion," Ed muttered hurriedly. "I told her brother that she has the flu, because he's really overprotective and… threatened to… castrate me if I ever got her hurt the last time I talked to him. Actually, he saw me standing behind Annora while she was talking to him and threatened me then."

Izumi arched an eyebrow in surprise at this as she gave her student a thoughtful look.

"Is there anything else that I need to know about this young man, Edward?" she queried as she turned around and headed for the stairs. Ed paled at this, but managed to respond.

"Well, I wouldn't mention anything involving alchemy," he admitted reluctantly, and the female alchemist turned around to stare at him incredulously. "When Al and I first met Annora, she had no clue what alchemy was, and freaked out the first time that she saw someone perform it."

Izumi stared at the teenage State Alchemist for a long time before she finally spoke, her dark eyes narrowed warningly.

"You've been hiding something from me, haven't you?" she said coolly, and Ed shuddered at the icy tone in her voice as he nodded.

"Yes ma'am."

"Once I've spoken to her brother, I expect the entire truth about this whole matter from you and Alphonse, am I clear?"

"Yes Teacher."

"Good."

With that parting statement, Izumi turned around and headed up the stairs with Ed following her, dreading the conversation that he knew was coming once his teacher was done with Ethan Thomas.

"Took you long enough," Ethan remarked curtly when Ed opened the door to Annora's room and entered, followed closely by Izumi. Ed opened his mouth to make a smart remark, only to have his teacher stalk over to the laptop and stare at the soldier on the screen for a few moments before she sat down and fixed the young man with a piercing glare.

"Young man, don't you dare talk to my student that way," she said sternly, and Ethan flinched slightly at the coldness of her tone. "You requested to speak to me, so why don't you tell me what you had to say that was so important before I decide that this is a waste of my time."

"I… I just wanted to make sure that my sister was okay," the twenty-year old said hesitantly, caught off-guard by Izumi's strict manner.

"I believe that Edward already informed you of her condition."

"He did, but it's just that-"

"You don't trust him?" Izumi asked, and Ethan looked distinctly embarrassed at this statement. "I can tell you right now that he and his brother have been keeping watch over your sister around the clock since she became ill, so don't you dare insult their integrity by thinking poorly of them. My husband and I have been taking care of her as well, so you have nothing to worry about."

Ethan was silent for several long moments before he gave a sigh and ran a hand over his short sandy-blonde hair.

"I'm sorry," he finally said as he fiddled with his pistol, which he had been cleaning while he had been waiting for Ed to return. "It's just that… well, I don't want anything to happen to Annora and not be able to do anything about it. She's my only sister… and I've always tried to protect her."

"I can understand the feeling," the female alchemist said as she gave a small smile. "I care for Edward and Alphonse like they are my own children. However, the fact that you care for someone still does not give you the right to be rude to their friends and threaten them. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, ma'am," Ethan said as he straightened up in his seat immediately, only to give an annoyed groan as a shout echoed behind him. "Sorry, but it looks like I have to go. I'll try and get on the web-cam again later to check up on Annora."

With that parting comment, the soldier turned off his camera, and the video screen on Annora's laptop went black. Ed reached over and wordlessly closed the screen before he shut the computer down. He was just about to close the lid when Izumi fixed him and Al with a deadly glare, causing both of them to freeze in their tracks.

"I do believe that you boys have some serious explaining to do," the older woman said quietly, and Ed and Al both shuddered at the deadly calm in their alchemy teacher's voice.

There was no doubt about it; they were doomed.

--

**Over in Iraq**

--

Ethan frowned as he leaned back in his chair and looked over his shoulder at one of his friends, Private Ben Morado, as he ran over to him with a huge grin on his face.

"Well I'll be damned," Ben said as he slapped Ethan hard on the back and smirked. "I never would have thought that you would've surfed the Internet on your precious free time."

"I have no clue what the hell you're talking about," the young man said stiffly as he glared at Ben. "I was talking to my sister. Actually, I was talking to one of her friends and his teacher to be precise. Apparently she's pretty sick right now, and since there's no one home at my house to keep an eye on her, they moved her to their teacher's house."

"Bullshit," Ben said as he ran a hand over his cropped short black hair. "You my friend have finally been bitten by the anime bug."

"You mean that crap that you keep talking about and reading all the time?" Ethan asked incredulously as he gave a muffled snort of derision. "Get real. I'm being serious though; I was talking with a friend of my little sister, Annora."

"No, you were watching _Fullmetal Alchemist_," the Hispanic man insisted as he gave Ethan a pitying look. "You can't fool me, amigo; I would know those faces anywhere. You need to stop denying yourself and come out of the closet… wait, that just sounded wrong." 

"No shit," Ethan grumbled as he gave his friend a distinctly sour look. "If you're that desperate, there are a couple of camels out by the officers tents that you can have a go at. They might kick your teeth out your ass before you can try, but hey, they're still there."

"Wow, it sounds like somebody is suffering from caffeine depravation," Ben remarked before he turned around and headed towards the mess tent. "I know when I'm not wanted. Enjoy your self-denial."

Ethan frowned at Ben's flippant remark before he returned his attention to the computer screen and checked his watch. He still had about twenty minutes left until his free time was over.

Immediately, the soldier opened up the Internet link and went straight to Google, where he typed _Fullmetal Alchemist_ into the 'search' box and hit 'Enter'. When he saw some of the image results that came up on the topic, Ethan's lower jaw damn near hit the ground in shock.

"No way," he whispered hoarsely as he stared at a picture of a boy around Annora's age, with the words 'Edward Elric; the Fullmetal Alchemist' emblazoned along the bottom, who looked exactly like the one that he had been talking too not fifteen minutes ago. "There is no way that this is even remotely possible."

'_Annora said the reason that the video feed I was getting from her web-cam was off was because of the fact that Katie had messed around with her computer and put some kind of program on it,'_ Ethan thought numbly as he stared wide-eyed at his computed screen, before he went through some of the other images in the gallery. _'That was why everything looked like it was animated, at least according to her.'_

As the man proceeded through the folder of pictures, the blood drained from his face more and more. There was the girl Winry, which Annora had introduced to him two days ago as a friend of hers.

"Holy hell," the twenty-year old muttered incredulously as he clicked on another picture. "Annora, what in the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

Suddenly, the next picture popped up, and Ethan almost fell out of his chair with a yell as Izumi Curtis made her appearance on his computer screen. This was the limit to what the soldier could take, and Ethan promptly closed down his viewing window before he stood up and headed for his tent. He needed to do some serious thinking.

--

Wow… I know it took forever, but I finally updated!! Score one for Hitokiri, and zero for the evil writers block! Although, the fact that Envy kept popping over and bugging me when I was trying to write did absolutely **NOTHING** to help! Although, the fact that he got jumped by Jiraiya via my own insanity probably had something to do with it as well.

**Envy:** You do realize that I'm going to kill you for that.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** You keep forgetting that I have your human remains in a cardboard box underneath my desk. Good luck with that one.

**Envy:** … I hate you.

Anyways, as you can all see, the plot has taken some interesting twists. I would like to thank the wonderful **agent000** for her much-appreciated idea of Ethan finding out about where Annora actually is, and giving me a needed kick in the pants with the plot for this story.

**Warning: 4/3/08**

Okay, I think a lot of you noticed that I had a new fic that was posted, and deleted on April 3rd. Please allow me to set things straight; I did not write that story. A friend of mine who is new to concept of fanfiction asked me if she could use my profile to post a story that she had written, since she didn't have an account of her own on here. Very stupidly, I said yes. The next thing I know, I'm checking my e-mail at school and I see a crapton of reviews, one of which very politely points out that "my" story was stolen from another author.

I was not amused.

And sure enough, when I checked out my friend's story, as well as the one that the reviewer mentioned, they were practically identical, except for a few ideas that my friend stole from me and put in her... Fangirl Guide or something like that. So right now I'm more than a little disappointed in my friend with what she did, and I'm mad at myself for being dumb enough to let her use my account.

Anyways, I deleted the fic as soon as I got home, and changed my password, as well as sent my friend an e-mail telling her that what she did was wrong. Fanfiction is where you create your own ideas, not steal them from others. Please, please don't flame me for this. It's bad enough that I feel like my own integrity was damaged by this little stunt, not to mention the fact that I should have told her to get her own account in the first place.

I offer my apologies to everyone who favorited that story, and really wish that it hadn't happened.

**Reviews**

Holy crap, I got a lot of reviews for this chapter! A new record of 23 reviews for one chapter! Thanks!!

Lulu Macaroni: As you can see, she didn't die. However, she is in a coma, and experiencing some very… odd things. You'll find out why in the next chapter. By the way, what Annora's experiencing, minus the little flashbacks into Ed and Al's childhood, is a real syndrome called 'Locked In'.

rockleefan: Yeah, I don't ever want to see what's underneath Envy's shorts just because it might make me try and commit seppuku just to get rid of the mental image. And yes, the Homunculi have no fashion sense whatsoever. By the way, I was going for that effect… mostly because I had just watched 'The Mummy Returns' a few days before I wrote that chapter.

Naomi-Yuko: Thanks. I hate really short chapters, because it takes forever for the story to go anywhere with them.

Siacatmesecat: Well, I have to say that your costumes were very well done. I enjoyed getting to see you at the Comicon, and thanks for the advice! Sorry about the swearing sometimes, but that's kind of how I talk a lot. (Blushes) I know I have a foul mouth, although both of my brothers are worse than I am.

Liah Cauthon: Well, I hope you find your Flamel necklace soon. Don't worry too much about Greed… he might be coming back.

Devil-Speaker: Ewwwwwwwww… Envy liking Annora?! Aw man, now I need a box of Mind Soap to get that picture out of my head!! That's just so wrong! Besides, I don't think that Senior Psychopath would actually ever fall for a 'pathetic human'.

Lady of Summer Haze: Well, he does have those weird bike shorts on underneath the skirt, so Annora didn't see too much. Mostly she just said it to piss Envy off. I think she succeeded pretty well too…

richard9311: No problem.

Syldoran: I think we all have days like that.

agent000: Thank you so much for your advice, and I'll keep it in mind. It really helped me get this next chapter out, and get started with the next one. Anyways, I'm really glad that you took the time and effort to give me some constructive criticism on this story; it keeps me from getting a swelled head. Actually, my parents and brothers do a good enough job with that by themselves. (Laughs) I'm probably going to use the other suggestion that you gave me as well, and that will be **very** interesting.

MyDarkSideHasAWayOfHerOwn: Yeah, Envy is a creep. Go right on ahead in kicking the crap out of him. Just make sure that you let me have a few gos' at him as well before you kill him.

Harue Harlequin: Thank you very much. Never fear though, spring is on the way and summer is almost here! Yeah, it gets pretty cold where I live too sometimes.

anonymousbutharshreviewer: Thanks. I'm glad that you like my stuff. How do I scare you though?

hermionine: Thank you very much.

bLaH: Okay, does this help?

Diminia: I'll tell you right now that I'm an even bigger pyro than Mustang, and Kimbley combined. They shall both fear my L33tness. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, read Megatokyo. That should clear a few things up.)

writingdreamer13: I updated. Now excuse me while I go and strangle Ed for telling everyone where I live. (Picks up a wrench and goes off to hunt for a certain alchemist)

jay hanabi: No, I'm not done with it yet. I hope to finish it sometime soon though.

Sanity Overload: Thank you for that courtesy. I hope that this chapter helped you. (Grins) I know that I can understand that feeling, especially when it's a nasty cliffhanger.

Orange in the Gray: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked it.

The Shadow111: You just might get your wish in the next few chapters… ack, spoiler!! You didn't see that!!

anime. storm: Uhh… the last time I checked, Annora's not a queen. Thanks for reading though.

AkatsukiKandaFangirl: And I love to harass Envy… so it works out. Thanks, I'm glad that you like it.


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Forsaken

Chapter Fifteen:

**Chapter Fifteen:**

**Forsaken**

By the time that Izumi had finished interrogating them, Ed and Al were both shaking in their seats as they stared fearfully at their teacher. It had taken a while, but slowly the brothers had told her the entire story, from their first meeting with Annora while she had been running from Envy, the strange book in her backpack with details about their lives, bringing to her to Central HQ and getting information about her life and family out of her, bringing her home with them after she was attacked by Envy in the prison block, finding out that none of the information she had given them could be verified, to how she kept insisting that she was from a city called Flagstaff located in the unknown and previously unheard of country of the United States.

Izumi stared intently at the two boys as she drummed her fingers meaningfully on the kitchen table, where the three of them were seated. Sig was busy working in the butcher shop sharpening some dull knives, and Mason was upstairs keeping an eye on Annora.

"So, Annora claims to come from another world, and has on several occasions has attempted to prove this by showing you her… laptop computer and cell-phone, I believe you called them," Izumi stated calmly as she tapped the black covering of Annora's laptop thoughtfully, her dark eyes narrowed slightly as she stared meaningfully at the two brothers. "And you, Edward, continually insist that there is no such place."

"Yes ma'am," Ed said weakly, quailing underneath his teacher's fierce stare. Al had just opted to stay quiet, mostly because he knew that Izumi was more than a little disappointed with them and all it would take to set her off was a single stupidly made comment from either one of the brothers.

"Out of curiosity, was the argument that you and Annora had a few days ago about this particular subject?" the female alchemist queried, and Al looked over at Ed incredulously with wide red eyes.

"Argument? Brother, what argument?"

Ed turned a very interesting shade of red that was previously unknown to the color spectrum as he sunk down in his chair and muttered something incomprehensible under his breath.

"Edward, we can't hear you," Izumi said sternly as she fixed the boy with a steely look. "Please speak up and repeat what you just said."

"Nothing," the boy said sullenly, only to gulp nervously at the fierce glare that his teacher leveled at him.

"Edward, tell me, now."

"I said that Annora got in a huff over the fact that I told her that she was too old to believe in fairytale-type stuff like other worlds," the State Alchemist grumbled reluctantly before he looked up at Izumi. "Teacher, there's no way that what she claims is true. Any skilled alchemist could have made her 'computer', and her cell-phone is probably just an advancement in handheld radio technology."

"One that even the military doesn't know about?" Izumi asked sarcastically as she fixed Ed with a disbelieving look. "Somehow I doubt that, seeing as how desperate they are when it comes to hiring and maintaining weapons contracts. If these devices are capable of half the things you say they are, their potential to be used in warfare is immense."

Edward frowned as he straightened up in his seat, golden eyes flashing and his automail hand digging mercilessly into the wood on the armrest.

"But Teacher-" he protested, only to be cut off by the older woman with a wave of her hand.

"No buts Ed. Besides, this machine wasn't created by alchemy," Izumi stated calmly as she placed her hands on the top of Annora's closed laptop, a flurry of electric blue sparks running across the surface momentarily before they disappeared without a trace. "It was made by human hands, probably by a skilled engineer who specializes solely in the manufacture of this one product much like your friend Winry does with automail. From what I can tell, the main components are several different types of plastics, silicone, copper, and a few other metals, as well as some substances that I don't even recognize."

Ed's jaw dropped in astonishment as he gently picked up the laptop and looked over the outside covering, as well as the power cord outlet, jump drive port, and headphones jack in the back.

"You're kidding me, right?" he asked softly, and his teacher fixed him with a 'how can you possibly be that stupid?' look.

"No, I'm not," she sighed as she reached up and began to massage her forehead. "Edward, is there anything else that you haven't been telling me about this girl that might happen to be important?"

"Not really, at least not that I can think of," Ed grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest. Izumi sighed as she cast a glance over at the possessed suit of armor sitting next to him and arched an eyebrow meaningfully.

"Alphonse?"

"Well… almost two weeks ago Annora had a nightmare where she started screaming in her sleep," Al offered hesitantly, despite the poisonous glare that he received from his older brother in response to his statement. Izumi arched an eyebrow at this piece of information.

"And why is this important, Alphonse?" she asked calmly as she reached over and swatted Ed upside the head when he opened his mouth to interrupt. Al hesitated for a few moments before he finally answered.

"Because she was dreaming about the Gate."

Ed swore silently under his breath as he banged his forehead once against the table and let it rest there, both of his hands clenching and unclenching into fists as he fought the urge to strangle Al. That was the one thing that he **didn't** want his younger brother to say on the subject.

Izumi stared at the two Elrics for several long moments before she sighed and stood up, a barely hidden expression of worry on her face.

"You do realize that if she's dreaming about the Gate, there are only two possibilities for what might have happened," she said coolly, and Ed looked up at his teacher with narrowed golden eyes.

"What?"

"Either your friend Annora attempted human transmutation, or she's a homunculus."

--

"Okay, it is now an official fact. I absolutely **hate**, loathe, and **DESPISE** this place!!" Annora snarled angrily as she ran down the shadowy corridor with the unknown presence hot on her heels once again. "I want to get out of here! Anywhere is better than this God-forsaken hellhole!!"

As if answering the teenager's frustrated rant, her right hand, which had been pressed up against the wall as she ran, connected with a door handle. Annora's eyes widened in shock and relief as she spun around and wrapped both of her hands around the metallic knob, just as the shadowy presence caught up with her.

"_You haven't paid your toll yet for discovering the Truth, Annora Thomas,"_ a whispery voice hissed sibilantly, and the teen felt her skin crawl as a clammy appendage brushed her up against her legs. _"There must be Equivalent Exchange."_

Chocolate eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as horror washed over the girl. This thing was the creature from inside the Gate!

"Let go of me!!" Annora spat as she frantically started kicking at the tentacles that were trying to immobilize her legs. "Just leave me alone, you stupid, slimy… **thing**!!"

The Gate creature only tightened its hold on her, and Annora immediately started kicking frenziedly at anything and everything that she could reach as she struggled to open the door behind her.

"_You must pay for your passage, girl,"_ the Gate creature hissed as it wrapped several of its tentacles around Annora's legs, and a few around her arms and wrists as she struggled with the doorknob. A loud snapping noise was heard as a well of helpless fury swelled up within the teenager, and the will to live kicked into overdrive.

"**GET! THE! HELL! OFF! OF! ME!!**" the sixteen-year old snarled, punctuating each word with a fierce kick as she violently twisted the metal doorknob and was rewarded with the faint 'click' of the latch opening. Immediately, Annora yanked open the door and bolted inside, forcefully slamming it shut on the writhing tentacles still clinging to her.

The Gate creature let out an unearthly screech as it jerked the dark appendages back out of the doorway, and the door latched shut before it vanished without a trace, leaving behind nothing more than a smooth expanse of stone wall.

"Oh thank heaven," Annora sighed as she turned around and collapsed against the wall before she slid down into a sitting position on the cool stone floor. It took a few moments for the teenager to notice that she was shaking, and she gave a wry laugh as she held her trembling hands up in the air for inspection.

"Well, I definitely can't say that this whole lovely experience hasn't been interesting," she muttered dryly as she lowered her hands and allowed her eyes to slowly slide shut, the adrenalin that had flooded her system earlier fading. "Who wouldn't like fighting a shadowy octopus from hell with way too many eyes?"

As she slowly calmed down, Annora became aware of the distinctive sound of someone writing something down while using chalk. For several minutes the sounds continued, and the teenager guessed that the person using the chalk was drawing a transmutation circle, probably a pretty good-sized one from the sounds of things.

'_Damn, I __**really**__ don't want to open my eyes, but I know I have to,'_ Annora reasoned silently as she sat up and looked at the scene before her. The little Ed and Al were both sitting by a large transmutation circle as Ed added the final touches to the runes inside of it.

"There, it's finished," Ed announced as he looked over at his younger brother. "You ready?"

"Uh-huh."

"Don't be scared, Al," the older Elric said reassuringly as he faced the transmutation circle, and Annora felt the blood drain from her face at these words. She was pretty sure that she knew what was about to happen next.

"Oh… shit."

It was at this moment that the teenager cursed the fact that she was little more than a ghost at the moment, because even if she tried to say or do something, there was nothing in this world that would enable her to stop her friends from doing something incredibly stupid.

"Damn."

--

"Brother…"

"Don't say anything, Al," Ed growled as he paced around the room that he and his younger brother were sharing, golden eyes narrowed intently as he tried to glare a hole through the wooden floor. The animated suit of armor stared at him, his red eyes wide in concern.

"Ed, Teacher does have a point," he pointed out hesitantly, only to have his older brother whirl around and glare at him.

"I know, dammit!! That's the problem!" the teenage alchemist ranted as he threw his arms up into the air in frustration. "But the thing is, none of the possible answers that we've come up with can explain what the hell's going on with Annora!! She just appeared out of nowhere, has no records and claims to be from some other town we can't find in a country that doesn't exist! How in the hell does that work?! She can perform alchemy, and doesn't have the Ouroboros, so she can't be a homunculus."

"But what about her brother, Ethan?" Al ventured nervously. "Do you think that maybe he… died, and she used human transmutation to try to bring him back?"

Ed froze in his seat before he looked over at the fifteen-year old, his entire body rigid.

"She did mention that she would do the same thing for her brother that we tried to do for Mom," he said quietly before he shook his head violently in an attempt to force the idea from his mind. "But she can't transmute without a circle like Teacher and I can, so that means that she hasn't seen the Gate in the way we have."

"Then how do you explain the dreams that Annora was having?"

"… I don't know, Al," the teenager admitted reluctantly as he reached up and began to massage the bridge of his nose in obvious aggravation. "This… none of this makes any sense. I mean, I don't know where Annora's been coming from, and I sure as hell don't know what's with her brother."

"Well… Annora always said that he was a soldier," Alphonse suggested. "When we saw him on her computer he looked like he was either stationed somewhere, or on tour."

"You heard Mustang that time, Al!! There is no Ethan Thomas registered in the Amestris military!" Ed snapped. "Hell, the bastard colonel even pulled in birth records from every small town between the borders of Xing to Drachma, and he never found any evidence of someone named Ethan or Annora Thomas being born within the past thirty years!! How do you explain that?!"

"Then maybe Annora was telling the truth," the younger Elric said quietly as he fixed his older brother with a piercing look. "Maybe there is something else out there, another world of some kind."

The Fullmetal Alchemist scowled as he fixed his younger brother with a disgusted look and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't tell me that you actually believe that crap," he hissed. "There's no way to prove it!! It's probably one of the most unscientific things to say!"

"Well Annora seems to believe it!"

"Annora thinks that alchemy is a dead science and is friends with some insane stalker chick!! How the hell would she know anything about what she's talking about?!"

Al fell silent for a few tense seconds before he finally spoke, and when he did it was with a hard edge that Ed had rarely ever heard him use before.

"Brother, how would you like it if someone refused to believe what you're saying when you **know** that it's true?" the usually calm Elric asked coldly. "The night before Annora and I were kidnapped by Greed, I heard her come inside and close her door hard. I went to go see what was wrong, and I heard her **crying** in there. She kept saying 'I want to go home' and asking why she was here. Does that sound to you like she doesn't know what she's talking about?"

Ed's eyes widened slightly as he looked at his brother in shock. He had made Annora, the girl who had no qualms about kicking guys in the nuts if she felt that they deserved it and had mouth even fouler than his, cry?

Almost immediately after this thought ran through his mind, the usual stubbornness that the teenager showed flared up, and he gave Al a withering look in response.

"Maybe she doesn't want to admit that I actually know what the hell I'm talking about," the alchemist growled. Al stared at him in shock for several seconds before he immediately punched his older brother in the face before he turned around and stormed out of the room and downstairs.

Ed sat there stunned for a moment before he reached up and gingerly rubbed at his cheek, wincing as he did so.

"Damn it Al, you didn't have to hit me so hard," he groused quietly, golden eyes focusing on the window by his bed.

For some strange reason, what Al said to him just didn't sit right. It was almost as though his brother had unintentionally said something that might be important to them in the future.

--

_I recall going madly in love with you  
And I remember this  
How could I forget?_

Blood.

In all her life, Annora had never seen so much blood at once.

It was everywhere, filling the air with its oppressive coppery sent, making the sixteen-year old want to gag. To keep herself from losing it, Annora found that she had to keep a hand over her mouth in a futile effort to block out the sickening smell that permeated the entire room.

_Regret is a needle  
In my neck  
It's slowly filling me  
With poison  
Spreading to my chest_

She didn't know what the hell had happened, only that Ed and Al's transmutation had been going fine until the golden light and electric-blue sparks coming from within the massive transmutation circle had suddenly changed into black and deep purple. It had been about right then that she heard the screams, and everything went straight to Hell in a hand basket. Light bulbs had exploded, and a violent wind had whipped up from out of nowhere, accompanied by purple lightning.

"This is just absolutely insane," the sixteen-year old whispered as she stood up and looked around her, the hair along the back of her neck standing straight up.

Thick clouds of smoke, or a mist of some kind, filled the room, making it practically impossible for her to see anything. Finally, the teenager decided to throw caution into the wind, and look for her friends.

_Take my pain and numb me from this_

"Ed, Al?" she called out, momentarily forgetting the fact that no one could hear her. A harsh choking sound met her ears, and a cold chill ran down her spine as she spun around in an attempt to locate the source of the noise.

"Guys?" she asked nervously, and flinched at the obvious tremor in her voice. She sounded like she was scared out of her mind.

Oh wait, she was.

"Al?" a voice called out, and Annora immediately recognized it as Ed's. "Al? ALPHONSE! No, damn it, no! It wasn't supposed to be like this…"

_Why do I have to beg  
When all that's left  
Is a memory  
Forsaken_

Annora frowned as she headed towards where Ed's voice was coming from. What had happened? Did something happen to Al? Just when she thought that she was close to where Ed might be, she heard the strange choking noise again. And it was right next to her.

The sixteen-year old looked down next to where her left foot was, and screamed.

There was a body there. Annora's knees gave way as her legs collapsed and she forced herself as far away from the creature as she could possibly go, her chocolate eyes wide in horror as she stared at the being in front of her. It looked like a human, only with its entire body except for the head turned inside-out. Organs pulsed visibly, pumping blood to living tissue that should not be surviving as the misshapen thing stared accusingly at the girl with glowing violet eyes.

_Why do I have to beg  
When all that's left  
Is a memory  
Forsaken_

"Oh god… oh my god…" Annora whispered hoarsely as she stared at the creature, feeling the harsh sting of bile rising up in her throat. "What... is this?"

The creature issued another chilling choking noise as it glared at her, and the sixteen-year old shuddered as she fought the almost overwhelming urge to start screaming once again. She had never been one to scream, and she knew that if she started again she would never be able to stop.

"Mom?"

_I recall pledging my sole devotion to you  
It reminds me how  
Now I'm on my knees_

Annora looked over in the direction that Ed's voice was coming from, and a chill settled over her as she looked at the misshapen being in front of her. This… **thing** was their mother?

"Shit," she hissed as she forced herself to her feet and made her way towards where her friend's voice was coming from. She needed to find Ed before he saw what he and Al had created. The teenager waved away the slowly clearing smoke as she looked around frantically for the familiar thatch of golden hair, only to be stopped in her tracks by a single sentence.

"Mom, is that you?"

_My guilt consumes  
Lost the will in me  
Wasting away before you  
Hold me closer please_

Slowly, Annora turned around to see Ed sitting behind her, both of his hands wrapped around the bleeding remnants of his lower leg as he looked up at her with wide golden eyes. The teenager frowned when she remembered that she was nothing more than a ghost to people here, so she couldn't keep the boy from seeing what he and his brother had created.

"Bugger all," she growled in annoyance as she ran a hand through her bangs, only to be interrupted by Ed talking again.

"Hey, you're not our mom!" he accused suddenly, and Annora's eyes widened as she stared at him in surprise.

_Take my pain and numb me from this_

"You… you can see… me?" she asked hesitantly, and the sixteen-year old suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a familiar golden-eyed glare.

"Yeah I can see you!" Ed retorted hotly, a scowl on his face. "You're standing right in front of me!"

Stunned, the girl crouched down in front of the younger Elric, her gaze immediately drawn to the blood that was leaking from the stump of his leg. Ed noticed where she was staring and glowered, moving the remnants of his limb closer to him.

_Why do I have to beg  
When all that's left  
Is a memory  
Forsaken_

"I can take care of myself!" he growled, reminding Annora strongly of a wounded fox that she had once found when she was younger.

The animal had snarled at her, even though it had been badly mauled by a dog and was probably going to die from its injuries. After finding a box to put it in, she had scooped the injured animal into it and ran back home to find Ethan, who had helped her patch it up a bit along with the aid of some very thick leather gloves, before he had taken her, and it to the vet.

_Why do I have to beg  
When all that's left  
Is a memory  
Forsaken_

"Look, I just want to help," the sixteen-year old said firmly as she started looking around for something to stem the blood flow. "No need to bite my head off."

"I don't need your help!" Ed snapped, and Annora glared at him.

_Yeah, yeah, yeah  
You break me_

"Somehow, I seriously doubt that," she retorted as she spotted a rag that she could use. The teenager tried to grab it, only to have her hand phase through it. Annora stared at the hapless piece of fabric, and then at her hand, before she swore angrily.

"Damn it!! Of course it couldn't be that easy, of course!"

_Forsake  
You break me_

Ed arched an eyebrow at this, his expression on of bewilderment.

"What's up with you?" he asked as he reached forward and tried to grab the older girl by the shoulder, only to have his hand go through her deceptively solid-looking shoulder. The eleven-year old gasped, and Annora flinched at the horrified look on his face.

_Forsake  
You break me_

"Now do you know why I was surprised that you could see me?" she asked softly as she looked away, unconsciously clenching her hands in frustration.

"You're a ghost?" the boy asked. Annora made a face at this as she gave a noncommittal shrug in response.

_You're breaking me_

"I'm pretty sure I'm not dead… but hey, I may be wrong too…" the teenager rolled her eyes upwards as she gave a frustrated sigh. "Then again, I might just be in hell."

"_Hell is only the beginning, brats,"_ a sibilant voice whispered behind the two kids, and Annora and Ed both spun around to see the Gate right behind them, its massive doors slowly creaking open. The two stared in sheer and utter terror at the inky black tentacles that slithered towards them, both of them too scared to even move.

_I recall going madly in love with you  
And I remember this... Tell me_

"Oh shit…" Annora muttered hoarsely, her eyes wide as all the blood drained from her face. "We are in so much trouble."

"That's the understatement of the year," Ed muttered dryly as he fixed the older girl with a withering look before his golden eyes widened in horror as he stared at something behind her. "Look out!!"

_Why do I have to beg  
When all that's left  
Is a memory  
Forsaken_

The teenager barely even had time to turn around before she was seized by the Gate, the deceptively weak-looking appendages trapping her in an unyielding grip. Annora swore angrily as she struggled against her bonds, using words that would make even a sailor blush in shame.

"You… there is now way in HELL that I'm gonna let you win!!" the sixteen-year old raged as she stubbornly dug her heels into the ground. "Now let go of me, you filthy freak!!"

_Why do I have to beg  
When all that's left  
Is a memory  
Forsaken_

The Gate made a low noise of irritation before it jerked on the teenager, causing her to lose any grip that she had on the ground as it pulled her forcefully into its interior. It was then that Annora broke her promise not to scream, reaching desperately for anything that she could grab on to so she wouldn't be sucked within the inky confines of the Gate.

"Noooo, let go of me!!"

_Yeah, yeah, yeah  
Forsaken_

The last thing that she saw before the darkness inside claimed her completely was Ed staring at her in bewilderment, just as the stone doors slammed shut in front of her ominously, completely cutting her off from the world of light that she knew.

As the teen struggled against her bonds, a thin stream of light pierced the darkness and hesitated for a moment before it connected with the girl's forehead. Annora screamed wordlessly as a stream of images was poured into her head, all of them flying by too fast for her to possibly comprehend. All of them that is, except for one.

_Yeah, yeah, yeah  
Tell me why  
__Why  
__Why  
__Why_

"ETHAN!!"

--

"ETHAN!!"

Ed jumped in his seat down at the dinner table, slopping soup all down his front as he jerked around to stare up the stairs, his golden eyes wide. Everyone else was frozen in their seats as they too looked up at the stairs where the panicked cry had come from.

"Was that…?" Mason began hesitantly as Ed leaped out of his seat and bolted up the stairs, with Al hot on his heels. The three adults looked at each other before they immediately went up after the Elrics.

The teenage alchemist skidded on the polished wooden floor as he ran for Annora's room and flung open the door just in time to see the girl hastily snap her laptop open and turn it on, terror evident on her pale face.

"Annora, you're awake!" Ed exclaimed before his expression turned into one of confusion. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," the sixteen-year old said shakily as she immediately logged on to her Web Cam before typing in her brother's military username, completely unaware of the fact that she was currently clad in a long white nightgown. "I just have a really bad feeling about something, and I want to make sure that it's not true."

It was at that moment that Izumi, Sig, and Mason all came up behind the two brothers, who were staring at their friend like she had lost her mind.

"What in the world…?" Izumi began, just as the opposite link to the Web Cam flickered to life, causing Annora to come face-to-face with a stern-faced, grimy man who looked like he had been caught in a fight of some kind.

"Who is this?" he demanded tersely as he glared at the teenager, who now looked like she had seen a ghost. "How in the blazes did you get onto this link?! This is a military link for God's sake!!"

"Uhhh…" Annora said as she recoiled slightly from the older man's verbal assault.

"I swear, if this is a damn prank by one of you punk kids, I'll send the feds out after your punk ass and have them haul you out here so I can deal with you personally!! Now give me your full name, right now."

"A-Annora Thomas, sir," the teen said, slightly unnerved by the man's harsh manner. She didn't notice Izumi come up behind her and glower at the screen, her hand clenching the back of the chair tightly. The soldier's attitude immediately became a little bit more accepting at the sight of the formidable-looking woman sending him a death glare from behind the shaken girl.

"How did you get this address?"

"My… my older brother… he's a private… he gave me this username," Annora stammered as she stared white-faced and shaking at the man who was currently giving her a disbelieving glare. "I… I… something didn't feel right… so I wanted to make sure that he was okay."

The man scowled, but his expression softened a bit as he called something out over his shoulder and vacated the seat in front of the computer. Moments later, a Hispanic man roughly around Ethan's age came over and sat down in front of the computer, and his jaw dropped when he caught sight of Izumi glaring at him.

"What in the hell?" he said hoarsely before he rubbed his eyes. "Okay, it's official; I definitely need some more sleep. I'm seeing shit that ain't there."

"Excuse me?" Izumi growled as she leaned over Annora and placed both of her hands on the wooden desk, glaring at the other man. Ben Morado actually shrank back as he stared back at the female alchemist, now completely unnerved.

"Umm… I was told that one of you wanted to talk to Ethan?" he ventured finally. Izumi frowned, but drew back, allowing Annora to look at the man in front of her.

"Yeah, I do. I'm his sister," Annora volunteered as she straightened up in her seat. "What's going on over there?"

Ben hesitated before he finally responded, worry evident of his tanned face. "Our camp just got hit by an IED about twenty minutes ago. We're still trying to figure out what the hell happened, and how much damage has been done."

The teenager froze in her seat, horror evident on her face as she stared unseeingly at her laptop. Immediately, Izumi took action as she placed a hand on Annora's shoulder.

"IED?" the female alchemist asked sternly, her dark eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at Morado, who gulped nervously.

"It stands for Improvised Explosive Device," the Private explained.

Ed watched as Annora went dead white as she stared at her computer screen, her hands shaking as she placed them down on the desk in front of her.

"Ethan… he's okay, right?" she asked nervously as her entire body trembled. "He's okay, isn't he?"

Ben hesitated as a sympathetic look flashed through his eyes, and understanding flooded through the sixteen-year old as she rocked back in her chair with a soft cry.

"No, oh please, God, no," she moaned as tears started to well up in her eyes. "He's okay, he has to be… he… he promised! He promised that he'd come back home after his tour ended!! He's not dead, he can't be!!"

"I'm sorry kid, but… he was standing right next to where the IED went off," Ben said as he looked away, not able to bear the sight of his friend's little sister go to pieces at the news. "We haven't found his body yet, but then again… there might not be much left."

"No… no, you're wrong, you have to be…" Annora said haltingly as she grabbed the front of her nightgown, clenching at something desperately beneath the fabric as though it would anchor her to her rapidly dissolving reality. Izumi frowned as she pulled the distraught teenager close to her, and that was all it took for Annora to lose it. The sixteen-year old burst into tears as she buried her face in her hands and started to sob as her entire world literally crashed down around her.

Her brother was gone. She'd never see him again, never tell him how much he meant to her, never have fights with him and then make up with him after a day or so.

"No, please… no," she moaned desperately between sobs, as though denying what she had just been told would make it go away. Izumi immediately assessed the situation as she looked over at Ben, who looked downright ashamed at being the one to tell Annora what had happened.

"I think that you need to go," the female alchemist stated softly as she wrapped a comforting arm around the girl's shoulders, the expression in her dark eyes unreadable. "If you have any more information on this subject later, we would appreciate it if you would be kind enough to contact us. Right now though, I think that Annora has had enough for today."

"Yes ma'am," Ben said as he cast a pitying look in the teen's direction before he reached forward, obviously to shut off his computer. "I'll do that."

Annora looked up at the now-black computer screen in front of her before she unintentionally let out a whimper; her breath coming in short gasps as she tried to contain all of the hurt that was swelling up inside her. She wanted to scream that it all was a lie, that there was no way that Ethan could possibly be dead. Instead all she could do was sit there, numb.

If this wasn't Hell, it definitely came close to it.

Ed stared incredulously at the girl as she shakily clenched at the unknown object beneath her nightdress. It was hard to believe that this girl was the same person that he had met in an alleyway over two months ago. The Annora Thomas that he had known and argued with was defiant, full of life, and stubborn as hell to boot. This girl… she was broken, sitting there in the chair with dead chocolate eyes… tears sliding down her cheeks in twin never-ending streams.

Izumi looked over at the sixteen-year old, an understanding expression on her face, before she reached out and turned off Annora's computer, gently closing the lid before she motioned for Ed to take the laptop away. The teenage alchemist picked up the portable computer and looked at the black rectangle in his hands reflectively before he returned his attention to his teacher.

"Teacher?" he asked hesitantly, only to have the older woman point at the door.

"Out, all of you," she said sternly, her tone indicating that she would book no nonsense from any of the assembled men.

"But-"

"I said out, now."

"C'mon kid, lets get out of here," Mason said gruffly as he seized the back of Edward's shirt and dragged him out of the room, with Sig shutting the door behind them. Surprisingly, the Fullmetal Alchemist didn't resist as he stood out in the hallway, his golden eyes thoughtful as he looked at the door to Annora's room. Al noticed his stare as Mason and Sig headed back downstairs to finish their dinner, and walked up behind him.

"Brother?" the fifteen-year old asked softly.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Ed muttered as he shook his head, snapping himself out of his daze. "It's so weird… to know that we were just talking to Annora's brother a few hours ago, and that he was alive and worried about his sister."

Al nodded and stared at the door for a few seconds before he turned around and headed for the stairs.

"We should probably leave them alone for now, Ed," he said softly. The teenage alchemist looked up at him and sighed before he followed his younger brother down the stairs back to the dining room.

--

Izumi watched as Annora stumbled towards her bed, concern evident on her face. As the teenager flopped down and reached numbly for her pillow, obviously intending on bawling her eyes out, the female alchemist sat down next to her and pulled the girl close. Annora stiffened up for a moment in her grasp before the dam broke completely and she wrapped her arms around Izumi, crying relentlessly as she moaned her pain and anguish into the older woman's shoulder.

"Shhhh… it'll be alright," Izumi whispered soothingly as she gently rubbed the teen's back.

"No it won't," Annora sobbed, her response muffled slightly. "I want to go home… I want to wake up and find out that this is all just a damn dream… I don't want this to be real!! He's my only brother!!"

The female alchemist didn't say anything as she held the teen securely in her arms, listening to Annora's moaned denials as she kept repeating "He can't be dead" and "I don't want him to be gone!!" like some perverse mantra.

"Annora… death is a part of life," Izumi finally said as she gently ran a hand over the girl's head.

"But… but he wasn't supposed to die… not like… like that," the sixteen-year old blubbered. "He was supposed to come home… and be safe… and die in his sleep as an old man… not blown into bits by an Iraqi insurgant!!"

"I know… and I understand that…" Izumi said reassuringly. "It's okay to cry…"

Annora didn't respond, and the two females sat there for several long minutes as the sixteen-year old tried to cry out all of the pain that was currently threatening to rip her apart from the inside out.

--

(AN: I'm warning you right now, this part is going to have a lot of profanity and one racist remark in it. I'm not trying to be crude or insulting or anything, that's just the kind of person that Ethan is. When he's frustrated, he usually expresses his opinions verbally. And most soldiers that I know talk like this.)

"God fucking bless America and all the fucking ships at sea," Ethan Thomas snarled as he sat up, hazel eyes clenched shut as he held his head in pain. "When I get my hands on the sons of bitches that launched that explosive at us, I'll make them rue the day that their parents wanted kids!!"

The young man groaned and shook his head as he tried to dispel the nausea that washed over him, somewhat disoriented.

"Where the hell am I anyway?" he grumbled as he opened his eyes, and blinked few times in shock. He was in some sort of dimly-lit file room, practically overflowing with papers.

"Okaaaaaaaay… this is more than a little unusual," the Private muttered uneasily as he forced himself to his feet, looking around him cautiously. "Since when did the towel heads start storing prisoners in file rooms?"

Ethan gave an irritated sigh as he spotted the door out of the room and walked towards it cautiously, his hand grasping the knob and turning it experimentally, and to his surprise found it unlocked. Sandy blonde eyebrows arched upwards in blatant astonishment, and the twenty-year old silently cracked the door open just a bit so he could see what lay outside the room.

The soldier almost keeled over in shock when he caught sight of two men wearing what looked like blue military uniforms of some sort, chatting amiably as they strode down the hall with folders tucked underneath their arms.

"Holy shit!!" Ethan hissed as he snapped the door shut quickly and took a step back, his eyes wide. Whatever he had been expecting, **this** had definitely not been it.

The twenty-year old frowned reflectively as he stared at the door in front of him for several moments before he scanned the metal filing cabinets and cardboard boxes around him, searching for a clue as to where he was. Ethan's eyes landed upon a paper sticking up innocently out of the top of one of the filing boxes, and he quickly snatched it up.

Before he could read it however, he heard the unmistakable sound of boots clacking on the polished tile floor come to a stop in front of the door to the room that he was in. Cursing wildly underneath his breath, Ethan immediately stuffed the document into his vest pocket and scooted over towards the door in the hopes that he could hide behind it as the metal handle slowly turned.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, Colonel Mustang wants to speak with you!!" a woman's voice called out suddenly, and the handle snapped back into its original position as the person on the other side let go.

"Alright then, if Roy needs to talk to me, it must be important," the man said as he left.

Ethan waited for several moments to make sure that the man and the woman were gone before he cautiously poked his head out of the room, and was greeted to the sight of an empty hallway. The twenty-year old wasted no time in going out into the hallway and hurrying down it in search of a better hiding place. He didn't need anyone to tell him that he stood out like a sore thumb in his dusty desert fatigues and tan army boots.

"That was way too close," the Private muttered as he cast a backwards glance at the room that he had just left, noting the sign that said 'Records' emblazoned above it. Right next to it was the men's bathroom, and Ethan had to arch an eyebrow at that particular arrangement. Who in their right mind put a bathroom right next to the records room?

Ethan wandered aimlessly through several different hallways before he finally found the room that he had been looking for, with a sign above it saying 'Uniforms', and immediately ducked inside. The young man checked the entire storeroom thoroughly just to make certain that no one was inside before he finally felt safe enough to look at the document that he had snatched earlier.

Right up at the top of the paper in bold lettering were the words 'Amestris Military Enlistment Form', and Ethan's eyes widened slightly in astonishment. There was no such country as Amestris, was there?

"Oh no, this isn't weird," the soldier muttered sarcastically as he reached up and ran a hand through his short sandy-colored hair. "I feel like I fell into the freaking _Twilight Zone_ right now."

The young man muttered a few choice words under his breath as he slowly read all that was listed on the paper, and frowned thoughtfully. He then looked up at all of the folded-up uniforms stacked up on the shelves around him, as well as the polished black boots in a bin by his feet, and slowly an idea began to form.

Ethan smirked as he looked down at the enlistment form that he held in his hand. He was going to figure out what the hell was going on here, or he was going to die trying.

--

It's really quite amazing what no one notices when they're too absorbed in their work.

For instance, on one even batted an eye at the young dirty-blonde haired man wearing the usual male Amestranian military uniform that stepped out of the uniform storage room with a rucksack slung over his shoulder, a piece of paper in hand. No one noticed him casually slip the sheet of paper into the bottom of the enlistment in-box on an unsuspecting secretary's desk, or when he quietly slipped out of the building and into the city.

However, later that day, Roy Mustang did notice that a greenhorn soldier had been added onto his staff, via a notice that he had to sign. The Colonel grumbled a few words under his breath that definitely would have gotten him shot if Hawkeye had been able to discern them, and scrawled his signature onto the paper.

He hoped that this 'Eric Thomas' was up to some old-fashioned harassment when he came in tomorrow, because the mere fact that he had to sign something in order for the brat to work with his other subordinates immediately put him on Mustang's shit list.

--

Wow, I've been writing this story for over a year now, and look how far its come!! Not to mention the 201 reviews that I've gotten.

Thank you everyone all so much for your support!!

Yeah, I'm not going to do review replies this time because I'm a bum, and I'm tired.

Oh, by the way, I have a new one-shot on how I was originally going to introduce Ethan to the FMA world, but decided to omit from the story because it no longer fit in with the plotline. Please check it out and tell me what you think.


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Already Over

Chapter Sixteen:

"Not all who wander are lost." – J.R.R. Tolkein

**Chapter Sixteen:**

**Already Over**

Ethan scowled and cursed wildly underneath his breath as he slowly counted to ten, both of his hands clenched so hard that his knuckles had turned white as he stared at the desk that Second Lieutenant Havoc had pointed out as his.

If there was one thing in this world that he absolutely **despised**, it was paperwork.

And there on the top of his brand-new desk, all stacked innocently into several neat piles, was an inhuman **mound** of paperwork.

"Oh, I am going to find out who did this, and make sure that they 'accidentally' get shot in the ass," Ethan growled under his breath as he sat down and pulled out a pen from his drawer with far more force than necessary, his hazel eyes flashing angrily. The private yanked out a small section from one of the piles and scrutinized the top page, the look on his face darkening even further as he progressed down the page.

The young man was completely unaware of the concerned looks that Havoc, Breda, and Falman were sending him as they watched his right hand clench the pen in an obvious death grip. The three enlisted men watched in interest as 'Eric' began to fill out the forms in front of him while muttering something under his breath.

"I wonder when he's going to realize that most of that stuff is ours and the Colonel's," Breda whispered to Havoc, who grinned roguishly as he shifted his cigarette to the side of his mouth.

"Hopefully not anytime soon," the sandy-haired man said as he leaned back in his chair. "Besides, we're his superiors, so we're allowed to delegate work to him."

"But he just started," Fuery protested as he looked in between the higher-ranking officers. "It's not fair to him for you guys to do something like that."

"Life's not fair either."

"But he probably doesn't even know how to do half of that stuff. Just because he's a green recruit doesn't mean that you can take advantage of him."

"Just look at it as a trial of endurance," Havoc suggested with a shrug. "If he doesn't crack within the first two weeks, he just might be able to become one of us."

"And if he does?"

"Make sure that he doesn't know where the guns are stored."

Fuery made a choking noise at this, while Falman rolled his eyes.

"Private Thomas stands about as much of a chance of losing his mind as Havoc getting a girlfriend," the warrant officer remarked seriously.

"Hey!!"

Breda and Fuery looked at each other before they burst out laughing, and Ethan glared at them for a few seconds before he finally spoke.

"Don't you guys have work to do?" he growled, hazel eyes flashing with obvious annoyance. Havoc arched an eyebrow as he straightened up in his chair, fixing the younger man with a scrutinizing look.

"Yeah, don't you?" he challenged, and Ethan scowled as he turned back around, muttering various curses under his breath. Havoc frowned thoughtfully as he watched the younger man intently for several seconds before he turned around to look at his co-workers.

"Hey, doesn't he remind you guys of someone?' he asked quietly, jerking a thumb in the new recruit's direction. Falman looked pensive as he brought his hand up to his chin.

"Now that you mention it, he does," the gray-haired man admitted, looking up at the ceiling. "But I can't figure out for the life of me who."

"Me too," Fuery piped up as he cast a secretive glance over in Ethan's direction. Breda nodded in agreement as he looked over at the younger man, who was still muttering obscenities under his breath as he methodically went through the heap of paperwork on his desk.

"I know who he reminds me of," Havoc said quietly as he dropped his voice down to a faint whisper. "Call me crazy, but he almost reminds me of a male version of Annora."

The three other soldiers stared at him incredulously before they all looked over at Ethan again, and then back at Havoc in shock.

"Well I'll be dammed, you're right," Breda said hoarsely. "She did say that she had an older brother, didn't she?"

"Not to mention the fact that his last name is 'Thomas', the same as hers is," Falman stated seriously. "It's possible that he could be the one that she was talking about."

"Yeah, but his name was Ethan, not Eric," Havoc corrected as he held up a finger. "And besides, Thomas is a pretty common last name. But you have to admit it's downright creepy how the resemblance is definitely there."

"What's creepy?" a familiar female voice asked from behind the four men, and all of them jumped about a foot in the air as they spun around to face the speaker.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye!" Breda gasped out, and Ethan jerked his head up to see the newest person joining the insanity taking place outside of Mustang's office. He blinked several times in surprise at the fact that he was seeing a female officer wearing the male uniform standing in front of the other men.

"What the heck?" he muttered quietly as he arched an eyebrow questioningly. If this was an unknown military-run country that was trying to make a name for itself, he was pretty sure that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon if all of the military was like this.

"I can't believe that I'm a damn desk-jockey," the twenty-year old grumbled as he returned to his evil paperwork. "I sure as hell better get promoted when I get back to Iraq for putting up with this crap."

The young man silently went back to filling out the forms, completely unaware of the look that he was getting from Hawkeye as she watched him plow through his paperwork. The sharpshooter arched an eyebrow as she turned around to face the four men behind her, all of which now looked distinctly nervous.

"Why is it that you four seem to have no work to do today?" she asked coolly as she slowly fingered on of her treasured handguns. All of the men immediately looked panicked as they stared at their superior and started to sweat profusely.

"Uhh…" Havoc stuttered as he clenched his teeth down on his cigarette, quailing under Hawkeye's fierce stare. The woman frowned thoughtfully as she briskly marched over to Ethan's desk and looked down at the younger man, who didn't stop working on his paperwork until Hawkeye cleared her throat.

"Excuse me for a moment, but may I see that?" she asked, holding out a hand expectantly. Ethan blinked in surprise at the request, but handed over a sheaf of completed papers to the lieutenant.

Hawkeye flipped through the papers for a few seconds before she looked up at the four men across the office with an icy glare, her expression stern.

"How interesting, most of these documents are ones that either the Colonel or you four should be taking care of," she remarked coldly. Ethan's jaw dropped in surprise before he growled out a curse and slowly and deliberately slammed his forehead against his desk several times in succession.

"Damn it! Should have realized!" he growled in between bangs.

Hawkeye ignored the private's self-abuse as she collected all of Mustang's paperwork from Ethan's desk and stalked over towards his office, the look in her eyes indicating that if Havoc and the others had any sense at all they would remove their own work from Ethan's desk as soon as possible.

Seconds later, the soldiers all heard several gunshots echo from behind the heavy wooden doors to Mustang's office, causing Ethan to jump as he immediately tensed up.

"Its okay kid, Hawkeye's just putting the Colonel in his place," Havoc said reassuringly as he held the somewhat small pile of his deskwork in his hands.

"But…" Ethan began as he pointed over towards the doors, his face slightly pale. Havoc understood the look, and grinned slightly.

"The worst thing that will happen in there is that there will be a few bullet holes in the wall, nothing else," the Second Lieutenant said calmly as he slowly puffed on his cigarette. "The lieutenant is a crack shot, and she only shoots at the Chief to scare him into doing his work."

Ethan blanched at this particular tidbit of information, and started to wonder if he had really made the right decision here. Somehow, he didn't think that the people here would take the idea of having a spy in their midst too well.

--

**Dublith**

--

_You never go  
You're always here _

_**Suffocating me**__  
Under my skin  
I cannot run away_

Annora stared listlessly out her bedroom window at the woods behind Izumi's house, her brown eyes vacant as she sat there, wrapped up in her memories. She didn't want to force herself out of her dazed state, because when she did she knew that the pain would hit her again full-force.

And so, the sixteen-year old chose instead to retreat into her mind as she tried to cling to the memories she had all the way from her childhood of her brother.

_Fading slowly_

Unknown to her, Alphonse stood in the doorway, watching his friend with obvious concern as he held a tray of food in his hands. The younger Elric sighed as he softly shut the door behind him before he set the tray down on the desk and walked over to the sixteen-year old; hesitating for a few seconds before he gently placed a gauntleted hand on the girl's shoulder.

Annora jumped slightly as she turned around to look at him, and her expression faltered for a second as she stared into the fifteen-year old's unblinking red eyes.

_I'd give it all to you  
Letting go of me  
Reaching as I fall  
I know it's already over now_

"Oh, hey Al," she said softly as she scooted over a bit to allow the younger Elric some more room on the bed, and the boy sat down next to her. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Somehow, I don't think that you would have paid attention to anything less than an explosion going off right outside your window," the teen said quietly as he looked at Annora in obvious concern. "Are you alright?"

_Nothing left to lose  
Loving you again  
I know it's already over_

_Already over now_

"No. I keep waiting to wake up and find out that this is all just some sick and perverse dream," Annora muttered as she reached up and started to fiddle with something hanging around her neck on a thin silvery chain, her expression distant as a pained look crept into her eyes. "Why Al, why did it have to be him?"

The sixteen-year old paused for a second before she gave a choked sob and bit her lip, not wanting to go to pieces in front of her friend. "I… I never even got to say goodbye."

_My best defense_

_Best defense_

_Running from you_

_**Cost me everything**_

_**Cost me everything**__  
I can't resist_

_Take all you want from me_

"I know, and it hurts," the boy said gently as he looked at her. "But you have to remember that you can't just stop living because your brother's gone. As Brother would say, you've got two strong legs, so get up and use them move forward."

Annora looked up at the younger Elric in shock, her chocolate eyes wide. Alphonse frowned inwardly as he stared steadily at the older girl, his red eyes stern.

_Breaking slowly_

"Annora, I know how you keep saying that you want to go back home, and I understand that…" the boy paused as he searched for the appropriate words, wondering how he should put this.

"But… I have people here who worry about me too, right?" she suggested with a sad smile. "Is that what you're trying to say?"

_I'd give it all to you  
Letting go of me  
Reaching as I fall  
I know it's already over now_

"Right, and I know that Brother would rather die than actually admit this, but he cares about you more than you could ever know," Al said as he cautiously cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure that the Fullmetal Alchemist wasn't hiding somewhere within the vicinity of the room. "But you also need to remember that… well, he doesn't actually like to believe in anything that can't be scientifically proven."

"You're saying that you believe me?" the sixteen-year old gasped incredulously as she straightened up. Al nodded as he looked out the window, and winced inwardly when he caught sight of Izumi and Edward sparring out back, and being thrown roughly thirty feet up into the air. The older women immediately stalked over to where Ed lay winded and with a menacing quality that would've put the Devil himself to shame, Izumi's fist found Edward's stomach. Al forced himself to look away as he returned his attention back to Annora.

_Nothing left to lose  
Loving you again  
I know it's already over_

_Already over now_

"Yeah… there's too much detail to your story, and too much proof, for it to just be some elaborate hoax like Brother keeps insisting it is. But don't tell Brother that I said that," the younger Elric muttered darkly. "We already had a huge argument about it while you were still unconscious, and he wasn't too happy about me saying that you were telling the truth."

"Hey, one person believes me, and that's all I need," Annora commented as she heaved a huge sigh of relief and ran a hand through her bangs. "I really **hate** being called a liar, especially when I'm telling the truth."

_You're all I'm reaching for  
It's already over  
All I'm reaching for  
It's already over now_

Al nodded in agreement as he looked over at the girl sitting next to him, and jerked in surprise when she suddenly leaned over and hugged his armored bulk.

"Thanks Al," she whispered. "I really needed to hear that, all of it."

_I'd give it all to you  
I offer up my soul  
It's already over _

_Already over now_

(AN: This is a **friendly** hug, as in something between friends, **not** romantic in **any** way, shape or form. Al came up and talked to Annora to make sure that she didn't go into depression or something like that. That's what my friends did when my aunt died.)

Annora frowned as she released the younger boy and ran a hand through her hair thoughtfully. "I've been acting like an idiot, haven't I?"

"Not an idiot; just someone under a lot of stress and in pain," Al said kindly as he patted the girl's shoulder gently. "Everyone has to cry at some time or another, no matter how tough they are."

_Give it all to you  
Letting go of me  
Reaching as I fall  
I know it's already over now_

"And the ones who don't are emotionally retarded," Annora joked as she cracked a weak grin in response. Alphonse rolled his eyes upwards as he shook his head.

"Annora, its okay to grieve, but you can't let it consume your entire life. All you are then is just nothing more than a hollow shell that goes through the motions of living," the fifteen-year old explained as he gave the older girl a scrutinizing look. "Staying up here for three days and refusing to talk to anyone while staring off into space is a perfect example of that, and it's hardly healthy for you. Not to mention the fact that I'm surprised that you haven't fainted from not eating for this long."

_Nothing left to lose  
Loving you again  
I know it's already over now  
It's already over now  
I know it's already over_

_Already over_

Annora actually looked embarrassed as she looked down at her hands just as her stomach gave a loud growl in response to Al's statement. The teen flushed an interesting shade of red as she clutched at her stomach, and Al gave a chuckle at this.

"You're just like Brother sometimes," he remarked, and Annora shot him a dirty look in response.

"I am not!" she said indignantly. "We're two completely different people!"

The girl froze as her stomach growled loudly once again, and she frowned as Al almost fell over laughing.

"Stop laughing, it's not funny!! Now just give me the damn soup before I hurt you!!"

--

Ed cast a discrete glance over his shoulder at Annora, who was chatting enthusiastically with Izumi, as he, Sig, Mason, Al all walked through the Dublith train station. Over the past two days the girl had grown a lot more active, and definitely less depressed.

The Fullmetal Alchemist knew that Al had said something to her not too long ago, and Izumi's not-so-subtle threat of beating the snot out of the sixteen-year old if she didn't stop moping about had probably contributed to the change in attitude as well. Ed frowned as he looked up at the train that the three of them were going to board, his golden eyes slightly narrowed. It was strange to think that it was only five days ago that Annora had woken up from her catatonic state, and then promptly found out that her older brother was dead.

'_Teacher's right though, we need to keep an eye on her for a while to make sure that she doesn't try anything stupid,'_ he realized. No matter how happy Annora seemed on the outside, Ed knew that all it took was the thought that you could succeed where others had failed to get you into a heap of trouble.

Ed snapped out of his slight daze as the train's whistle blew, alerting the three teens that it was about to leave the station.

"Annora, Al, we need to get a move on!" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran towards the now-accelerating cars. "Teacher, we'll stop by again soon!!"

"Next time, you'd better not be in trouble!!" the dark-haired woman roared from the platform as she watched her students and their friend jump onto the caboose. Ed and Al looked over at her as they straightened up before waving goodbye.

"I can't make any promises!!" Ed called back, to which Izumi scowled darkly. Before she could respond however, the train was out of the station and headed down the tracks.

"What is it with you guys and almost missing the train?" Annora asked as she opened up the door leading inside the train, her long hair whipping about her face wildly from the wind rushing past them.

"Long goodbyes," Ed stated simply as he and Al walked into the car, and Annora followed them after them as she shut the door behind her.

"And the fact that you're already anti-social to begin with has nothing to do with it, right?" she asked dryly, and Ed frowned.

"C'mon, let's just go find some seats already," he grumbled as he grabbed the taller girl by the wrist and dragged her forward, ignoring her sputtered protests. Al watched the two for a few seconds before he chuckled wryly and followed them over to a pair of vacant seats. All three of the teens ignored the stares that they were getting as they got themselves situated in their seats, and Ed promptly dozed off.

Annora and Al exchanged annoyed looks before the former pulled a marker out of her backpack and held it up for inspection.

"Shall I?" she asked with a smirk. "Or do you want to do the honors?"

"Annora!" Al said reprovingly, clearly appalled. The girl gave him a nonchalant shrug as she uncapped the black marker.

"Okay then, I'll do it," she said as she leaned over and scribbled a pair of spectacles onto Ed's face, as well as a mustache, before she capped it and stuffed it back into her backpack. "You saw nothing."

"You do realize that Brother's gonna kill you for that when he wakes up, right?' the younger Elric commented, even though he had made no attempt to stop the older girl. Annora arched an eyebrow at him challengingly before she smirked and held up a finger as though stating some ancient piece of wisdom.

"That's only if he can catch me."

--

"GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!" Ed raged as he ran after Annora, his face twisted into a mask of fury as he chased after the girl.

"Not on your life!" Annora retorted over her shoulder as she put on an extra burst of speed, struggling to stay ahead of the irate Elric. She probably shouldn't have started snickering when Ed had woken up while the train was pulling into Rush Valley, because then maybe she wouldn't be chased through the streets by a vengeful shrimp hell-bent on catching her.

Then again, he probably would've figured out who had been behind his facial art by simple process of elimination.

"ANNORA, YOU ARE DEAD WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!!" the teenage alchemist yelled out, both of his gloved hands held out in an obvious strangling position. The girl winced as she started looking for a possible escape route, and grinned slightly when she found one.

"You'll have to catch me first, Ed!!" she reminded her friend. "Besides, it's not like I did anything illegal!"

"You drew on my face!!"

"So? You're the one who fell asleep on the train, so you were fair game!"

"THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE!!"

"It wasn't supposed to be. Besides, you were snoring!"

"I DON'T SNORE!!"

"Uh… yeah, you do."

Ed shrieked several profanities in response to Annora's comment, and the sixteen-year old winced as she caught sight of the shocked looks on the faces of several mothers as they hastily covered their children's ears in an attempt to protect their innocence.

"Ed, don't cuss in front of kids!!" she scolded, and was rewarded with a long string of obscenities from the shorter boy.

"Bite me!!"

"No thanks, I don't want to get rabies or whatever the hell it is you have. I actually wish to retain my sanity for the time being."

"Why you-!" Ed snarled as he lunged for his friend, only to have the girl sidestep him easily before she bolted into the crowd, losing herself amidst the mass of bodies crowded into the street.

The teenage alchemist looked around him for several seconds before he cussed loudly and started threading his way through the mass of humanity. He had a little over an hour to find Annora and get her back for what she did before the train left for Resembool.

"Damn it!" the sixteen-year old hissed, golden eyes flashing in obvious irritation as he clenched his hands. This was probably going to be harder than he thought.

--

Annora grinned as she looked over her shoulder, panting slightly from all of the running she had done to put as much distance between her and Ed as possible.

"He's so gonna kill me when I get back on the train," the girl muttered as she observed the few people strolling around on the streets. "But… I think it's probably worth it."

The sixteen-year old sighed as she straightened up and started towards an intersecting street, reaching up with her right hand to absentmindedly brush a few stray strands of hair out of her face. A sad look came over the teen's face as she looked over at a shop nearby, the entire front window filled with books on display.

"Ethan…" she muttered as one particular title caught her attention; _A Soldier's Decision_. "Heh, he always did like those action and adventure books."

Annora walked up to the bookshop window and frowned thoughtfully as she examined the other titles on display before she took a deep breath and walked in. Maybe she could find something new for her to read that wasn't about alchemy.

The teenager pushed open the door, and a bell rang out merrily, announcing her arrival to the bookstore owner. The owner, a brown-haired man in his mid to late thirties, looked up from the catalog that he was poring over and smiled.

"Well hello there missy. What can I do for you today?"

"Nothing for now, I'm just looking," Annora said with a slight shake of her head. "Uh… do you have any fiction books here?"

"Yes we do," the man said before he pointed over in the direction of a section of bookshelves in the corner of the store. "You'll find the different genres in different sections, and all of them are in alphabetical order according to the author."

Annora nodded as she headed over in the direction of where the owner had pointed out the fiction books, a small smile on her face as she raised her hand up in acknowledgement. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," the man called out just as the teenager disappeared amongst the bookshelves.

Annora scanned the shelves for several minutes, a thoughtful look on her face as she ran her index finger over the various titles, occasionally pulling a book out and reading the synopsis on the back if a title caught her eye.

"Hmmm… _Lost on the Road of Life_?" the teen muttered as she arched an eyebrow, looking at the cover, which featured a girl a little older than her dressed in some sort of split-sided blue dress with a metal forehead protector on and holding a strange-looking knife in her hand, for a few moments before she flipped it over to the back. "Huh… normal college student Erin Cody passes out after her final exams and wakes up in a world populated mostly by ninjas. When she finds out that there is no way for her to get back home, she must make the decision to become part of the strange society that she now finds herself in, and possibly find the reason why she even came there in the first place."

Annora stared at the book for several seconds before she shuddered slightly and put it back on the shelf. That particular storyline was waaaay too similar to her current situation, in a very creepy sort of way.

"Okay, let's look for something that doesn't earn a rating of fifty on the weird shit o-meter," the girl muttered mutinously as she scrolled through the list of titles on the shelves, automatically skipping the rest of the books written by that particular author. "Damn it, where's the Clive Cussler or J.K. Rowling books? Or even Tamora Pierce. I just want to find something good to read for fun, not be bored out of my mind on that stupid train."

"Hey, do you need any help?" a male voice asked from behind her, and Annora turned around to see a boy about an inch taller than her looking at her curiously, his blue eyes thoughtful.

"Yeah, I'm looking for something that isn't romance, better known as crap, or horror," the sixteen-year old said before she gave a wry grin. "Do you know of any good action and adventure stories that you could recommend?"

The boy frowned thoughtfully as he ran a hand through his mop of blond hair, although a lock of it immediately drooped back down over his right eye.

"Well… there are a couple that I like," he mused as he gave a shrug. "I don't know that you'll like them though."

"I'll read just about anything, just as long as it's not about something gross," Annora pointed out seriously. "And by gross, no I do not mean blood and guts."

The blond boy arched an eyebrow as the corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile.

"Here, if you like adventure stories, these are pretty good," he said as he reached up and pulled two books off of the top shelf before handing them to Annora. The girl looked at the titles and grinned; _Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_ and _The Curse of the Tombs_.

"These look like they're right up my alley," the sixteen-year old stated as she smiled at the boy. "Thanks. I really didn't know what I was looking for."

"Not a problem," the blond said, returning the smile easily. "I have to say that I'm surprised at your tastes though."

"If you say one word about reading trashy romance novels, I swear I'll pummel you to the ground," Annora threatened as she held up a fist meaningfully. "I've read a grand total of one page of that crap, and it took everything I had not to gag. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I actually enjoy that stuff."

"Okay, I won't," the boy said as he held up his hand placatingly before he smiled at her. "Besides, you're not the first person I've ever heard say that romance novels are trash."

"No, it's a common fact."

"You're strange."

"Where I come from, that's considered a compliment."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"No, you think?" Annora asked as she arched an eyebrow, causing the taller boy to snicker in response, before she held out her hand. "Thanks for the help."

The boy looked at her for a second before he took her extended hand and shook it. "No problem at all."

"So… I guess you're interested in alchemy?" the teenager asked as she looked at the three thick books that the blond boy had tucked underneath his left arm. The boy arched an eyebrow curiously before he nodded.

"Yeah, more than you know," he said as she shifted the books into a more comfortable position. "So, I haven't seen you around before. Are you new here?"

"I'm just passing though," Annora admitted as she headed towards the register, her new books in hand. "My two friends and I are on the next train, and I was bored to tears on the way here to Rush Valley, so I decided to get something to read."

"Hm, so what's your name?" the boy asked as Annora paid for her books, and then handed over the money to the owner for his own purchases.

"I'm Annora Thomas. And you?"

The boy paused for a second, obviously thinking, before he finally responded. "Edward Elric."

Annora froze in her tracks as she cast a sideways glance over at the boy. He didn't notice her sudden hesitation, and she immediately started walking again as she frowned thoughtfully.

"Really?" she asked, faking surprise. "As in the famous State Alchemist, the youngest one in history?"

"You got it!" the boy said proudly as he puffed out his chest. Annora mentally rolled her eyes as she realized what the boy was doing; he was claiming to be famous just to impress her, or any other girl that he came across.

'_Stupid little perv,'_ the teenager thought sourly as she gave a mental sigh. _'You wouldn't even know a State Alchemist if one of them danced in front of you naked. Why is it that I always seem to attract the strange ones?'_

"So, where are you headed?" the boy asked nonchalantly, and Annora arched an eyebrow curiously at him.

"To Resembool, with two of my friends," she commented as a plan slowly began to form in the back of her mind, and she smirked inwardly. "You know, both of my friends are really into alchemy. They'd probably like to meet a real State Alchemist."

The blond looked thoughtful for a few moments before he grinned at Annora, and the teen knew that he had taken the bait.

"I don't see why not," he noted. "So, where are your friends?"

"Probably somewhere by the train station."

"Okay then, lead me to 'em."

--

Ironically, Annora found Ed out in front of an automail shop, surrounded by a bunch of drooling mechanics as they tried to get a good look at his arm. The teenager arched an eyebrow when she caught sight of the harassed-looking alchemist, and decided that she should probably give her friend a break.

"Hey, Short Stuff!! Over here!" she called out, waving her left arm enthusiastically over her head as the fake Ed gave her a funny look. Just as he opened his mouth to ask what she was doing, there was a miniature explosion over where the mechanics were, and a monstrous cloud of dust rose up into the air. From this dust cloud out stormed Ed, and he looked fit to be tied.

"Don't call me short!!" he shrieked angrily just as he caught sight of the boy standing next to her, and his golden eyes widened in recognition as he glared at the taller boy, who looked almost like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck.

"No way…" the other blond gasped as Ed whirled around to face him.

"YOU!!" the Fullmetal Alchemist raged as he jabbed an accusing finger at the taller boy. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same question!!"

"So… I take it that you two know each other then?" Annora asked dryly as she looked in between the two boys, her eyebrows raised almost up into her hairline. Ed glowered at her as he sent a dirty look in the other blonde's direction.

"Where the hell did you dig up the bastard phony?!" he demanded hotly, jerking a thumb over in the other boy's direction.

"I do have a name you know," the boy broke in curtly. "It's Russell Tringham if you've forgotten."

Annora ignored him as she looked over at Ed.

"He was at the bookstore I went into, and when he claimed to be you I knew something was up, so I thought that I'd alert you to the fact that you had an imposter," she stated with a roll of her eyes before she fixed the taller boy with an annoyed look. "You know, you really shouldn't introduce yourself as someone else. That could get you in a lot of trouble. You're just damn lucky that I'm not in the military."

"Who the heck is this chick, Elric?" Russell asked as he gave Annora an irritated look, his blue eyes narrowed slightly before he smirked. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Hell no!!" Ed growled as he glared at the other blond. "Like I'd ever be desperate enough to go out with her! She's just someone that the bastard Colonel assigned Al and I to watch."

Annora flinched at this comment as she eyed the shorter boy with a mixture of pain and anger. She'd thought that Ed was a friend, or at least thought of her as one. Obviously the State Alchemist didn't share her views on the subject.

"Wow, thanks," the sixteen-year old said scathingly as she crossed her arms over her chest, her brown eyes narrowed. "I'm so flattered that you think of me that way. Fuck you too."

Ed turned around to look at her, a golden eyebrow raised curiously. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, Edward Elric, that you are a Grade-A jackass!!" Annora snarled as she prodded the shorter boy painfully in the chest with her index finger. "Jesus Christ! I thought that we had gotten past this, you stupid little brat!"

"I'm not-!"

"You know what, save it!!" the teenager spat as she cut off the alchemist and glared daggers at him, her chocolate eyes flashing murderously. "If you see me as such a burden, then I'll just do you a favor and leave! I thought that you were my friend, but obviously I was sadly mistaken!"

"Annora-"

"Edward, **shut up**," Annora growled dangerously. "I'm going to get my stuff from the train, and then I'm leaving. I don't care what the hell happens to me, but I have had **enough**. I'm tired of being treated like some… some burden that you have to bear, because you obviously don't see me as anything else!"

The sixteen-year old growled out a foul curse as she stormed off away from the two boys, only to be jerked to a halt as an unyielding automail hand clamped around her left wrist.

"Annora… look, that's not what I-" Ed began, only to have the girl whirl around and punch him in the face as hard as she could, her brown eyes narrowed angrily.

"**Let go of me**," she hissed, her tone acidic. "There is nothing that you could possibly say that would make this okay. You hate me, okay I get it. End of story, now let me get out of your damn hair. I don't want to be a **burden** to you."

The State Alchemist froze in shock as he regarded the other teen with wide golden eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, only to have Annora swiftly bring her knee up and nail him right between the legs, her expression grim.

"I said let go of me," she growled as the boy released her with a pained grunt before she spun around and stomped off in the direction of the train station, the back of her unbuttoned jacket flaring out slightly behind her. Russell looked at the irate teen with wide eyes before he returned his attention to Ed, who lay there on the dusty ground curled into a ball.

"Wow, you really know how to handle the ladies Elric," he remarked with a low whistle. Ed scowled up at the younger boy as he tried to force himself up into a standing position.

"Shut up you stupid phony," he grumbled as he finally managed to get to his feet, wincing as he did so. "I don't need any of your smart-ass remarks right now."

"No, what you need is some common sense."

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"Oh, I'll make you!! Let's see you say anything with a broken jaw!"

--

"Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid!!" Annora muttered as she stalked towards the train station, angry tears stinging the corners of her eyes as she dodged various passers-by. "God, I can't believe that I was that stupid! What in the hell **ever** made me think that we were friends?!"

The teenager scowled as she angrily brushed aside the tears that were welling up uncontrollably in her eyes, the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach growing worse and worse with each step closer to the station.

"That bastard hated me the first time we met, so why the hell should things be any different now?! I've only been staying with him for two damn months!! I thought that we had worked things out, that we were friends! And then that… that **jackass** goes and pulls something like that!!"

Annora stopped as she took several deep breaths in an effort to calm down, only to find that she couldn't. A deep feeling of helpless rage welled up within the girl as her temper finally snapped, and she started ranting angrily at nothing in particular.

"I HATE this! I end up in this stupid god-forsaken place with absolutely no way home, and I'm supposed to just sit back and enjoy the ride as I follow the biggest asshole in the world around because he's my self-proclaimed babysitter?!" she raged. "Screw that!! I'm not some weak damsel in distress that needs a guy around to save her, and I certainly don't need that pathetic, stuck-up excuse of a boy to be the one to do it!!"

(AN: What Annora's currently going through is called severe emotional upheaval, and it usually occurs after someone's dealt with a lot of stressful situations in a short period of time. In the span of a little more than a week, Annora's woken up from a catatonic state, found out about her brother's 'death', and just heard someone who she thought was her friend say that she's nothing more than a tagalong, not to mention the fact that she's stranded in another world. All it takes is one little thing to make you finally snap, and then you just have to wait until you get upset to the point of exhaustion before you finally calm down.)

The sixteen-year old gave an aggravated snarl as she stalked around the corner, only to run full-on into Al's chest-plate with a loud 'clang'. Annora staggered back a few steps as she shook her head, trying to clear her vision, before she realized who she had run into.

"Annora, are you okay?" the younger Elric asked quietly, sensing that the older teen was definitely upset about something. The sixteen-year old frowned as she looked up at him, and gave a loud sigh as she forced herself to calm down so she wouldn't explode on the innocent boy.

"No, I'm not," she grumbled, noticing only then that Al had her backpack and computer satchel in his hands, as well as Ed's suitcase. "I'm getting out of here, to hell with what Mustang says. I don't care anymore."

"What?!" Al yelped incredulously, his red eyes wide. "Annora, what happened?! What's going on?"

"Your brother happened, that's what!" the girl snapped, her brown eyes flashing with obvious anger. "I'm sick and tired of being treated like some pathetic animal that nobody wants, but doesn't have the balls to get rid of, so it just gets dragged along and treated like crap. Ed even said it himself; I'm just some girl that Mustang assigned you two to watch, nothing more."

"But-" the fifteen-year old began hesitantly, only to have Annora give a frustrated sigh as she ran a hand through her bangs.

"Look Al, just give me my bags and I'll be gone," she muttered. "I don't think that I can stand another minute here, much less the thought of Ed showing up, because next time I might do more than just hit him."

"Like what, kick me in the nuts again?"

Annora whirled around to see Ed leaning up against a wall behind her, his face pale, while Russell cautiously stood a few feet behind him. The girl scowled as she grabbed her backpack and roughly threw the straps over her shoulders before she did the same with her laptop case.

"Go to hell," she growled as she shoved past the shorter boy, only to have him grab the back of the fabric strap to her laptop satchel slung across her chest and yank her to a stop.

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but get over it!!" Ed spat, his golden eyes flashing. "If you really want to leave, just remember that you wouldn't last a day alone out there."

"I can take care of myself, **without** your help!!" Annora shot back, her own eyes narrowed almost to the point of being slits. "I don't need the assistance of a military dog that doesn't give two cents about anyone but himself!!"

"I may be a dog of the military, but I never sold my soul!"

"Bullshit! All you care about is your goals, and to hell with everyone else!!"

"You're starting to sound like Greed."

"At least he made some sense! As for what's wrong with me, do you honestly think that my older brother could just die, and I'd be fine about it?! Unlike you, I have to accept the fact that he's gone, and he's **never** going to come back!"

Ed went white with rage as he glared at Annora, both of his hands shaking as he tried not to lose his temper.

"Don't you **dare** talk about something that you know **nothing** about," he snarled as Al and Russell watched the argument with wide eyes. Annora frowned as she shot the other teen a scornful look and stepped firmly down on his foot.

"Oh, and like you know jack shit about me," she growled fiercely, chocolate eyes blazing with loathing as she knocked his hand away from her. "Never once have you **ever** really tried to get to know me, or anything about my life. You just assume that what I tell you is all just some big fairytale. Well here's a newsflash Ed; ALCHEMY CAN'T PROVE EVERYTHING!!"

With that parting statement, Annora spun around and stormed away from the three boys, cursing silently underneath her breath.

--

Wow… I didn't really expect this chapter to turn out this way, but it kind of just wrote itself. Looks like Ethan's supposed death hit Annora really hard, huh?

Anyways, I wish to address an opinion that was brought forth by a reviewer.

This person asked me if Envy liked Annora. Allow me to leave no interpretations in this response; NO WAY IN HELL.

Envy does not like Annora, nor does she like him. He wants to kill her, just like every other human being on the planet. Besides, Envy would never fall for a weak human, especially one who tags along with Ed and Al. Also, Annora insults him for a reason; she thinks he's a psychotic nutjob, and she would be immensely happy if he suddenly dropped dead for any variety of reasons. Their insult wars are not 'secret signs of their hidden affections' or any other crap like that. They hate each other, plain and simple.

**Annora:** Like I'd ever want to be within a mile of the faggot, much less let myself be hugged or… (shudders at the thought) kissed by him. Geez, I think I'd gag.

**Envy:** You want to gag?! What about me?! It's not my fault that some stupid human thinks that you like me!

**Annora:** It's called being delusional. I'm pretty sure that's what my friend Katie is, especially when it comes to you.

**Envy:** … I don't even want to **go there** with that one!

**Annora:** And I don't like Al either! He's just a friend, and kind of like a little brother to me! I mean, I'm the youngest in my family, so I've never gotten the chance to have a younger sibling before.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Be grateful for that. They can be really annoying. My little brother loves to drive me up the wall.

Anyways, moving on.

**Reviews**

agent000: Oh yes, the strangeness of the situation is definitely going to continue. But Annora's not going to find out that Ethan's really alive and in Amestris for a while, since she still has about a month left before she's going to get her chance to go ho-

**Ethan:** Shut up, you idiot!! Do you want to give the ending away?!

Phantom SunsSong: As you can see, Mustang isn't the one who notices the family resemblance. It's Havoc and the others who figure it out first, although they just brush it off as coincidence.

anime. storm: At least not yet.

**Ed:** What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

Lulu4ever: The reason Annora's laptop has lasted so long **is** because of the fact that she had the cord to charge it. And yes, they do have plugs for electrical sockets in the walls in Amestris. Annora just transmuted the end of the power cord for her computer so that the plug would fit into the sockets in Amestris. Why wouldn't she have had her charger in her computer bag when she first came to Amestris anyways? I always have it in my bag when I bring my laptop to school, that way I don't have to worry about my computer dying on me when I'm in the middle of an essay.

Call-me-Lie-Chan: It's okay. I was crying a bit when I wrote that bit where Annora finds out that Ethan's dead, mostly because I've lost family members before and it really hurts. If I ever lost either of my brothers… it would be like the world ending for me.

talapadme: I take things from real life… and things that I've heard about, and combine them. I also brainstorm funny stuff that I could possibly do at some point in the story and write it down. Yes, Annora will be insanely happy when she finds out that Ethan's alive and well in Central, but that won't happen for a while.

Mei Fire: It'll definitely be shocking, that's for sure.

tiggeranddash: Hmmm… I'm guessing that you're a Disney fan? Thanks for taking a look at my story. Cool name by the way.

Orange in the Gray: Oh she will see him eventually, it's just a matter of when and where.

richard9311: Thanks!!

**Disclaimer:** The song _Already Over_ belongs to the band Red, and I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do however own Annora, Ethan, and Katie.


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Explosive Reactions

Chapter Seventeen:

"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back. There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold." – Frodo Baggins, _Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King_

**Chapter Seventeen:**

**Explosive Reactions**

"I hate this!" Annora grumbled darkly as she threaded her way through the darkening streets of Rush Valley. "Every single time I think that something just might go right for a change, it blows up in my face!"

The sixteen-year old heaved an aggravated sigh as she shook her head and ran a hand through her bangs, not really caring about where she was going. Without even noticing, Annora ended up walking down an alleyway, completely wrapped up in her thoughts.

"Well well well… isn't this familiar?" a mocking voice asked from behind the teen. Annora froze in her tracks as she slowly turned around to face the speaker, and frowned when she saw that it was Envy.

"Oh great, you," she said coldly as she stared at the homunculus. "Just what I need. More bullshit to deal with."

"You're being more rude than usual today, brat," Envy remarked as he arched a dark eyebrow, to which Annora just rolled her eyes and turned around, obviously intending on leaving the area.

"Actually, I'm just not in the mood to deal with you. Go away."

Envy stared at the girl's retreating back for several seconds in shock before he scowled and jumped up into the air, landing right in front of Annora.

"Are you ignoring me, wench?" he demanded, lavender eyes narrowed. The sixteen-year old looked at him like he had taken leave of his senses as she frowned, a dangerous glint entering her eyes.

"If you don't want me to kick your ass, **get out of my way**," she growled, her chocolate eyes flashing murderously. Envy blinked in surprise at the teen's comment before he smirked annoyingly, flashing slightly pointed white teeth as he leaned forward, placing his hands on his hips as he sneered in Annora's face.

"What's wrong, did you and the pipsqueak have a little falling out or-"

WHAM!!

The homunculus saw stars as Annora's clenched fist smashed mercilessly into his face, momentarily stunning him as the blow sent him reeling backwards a bit. The sixteen-year old glared venomously at Envy before she punched him in the face again, this time, even harder than before.

"This is all YOUR fault!!" she shrieked angrily, much to Envy's surprise.

"…what?"

"You… if it hadn't been for you… I would never be in this mess!!" Annora raged, her face twisted into a mask of fury as she lunged forward and prodded the androgynous homunculus hard in the chest. "If you hadn't gone after me on that day, you filthy narcissistic jackass, I would never have met **that bastard**!!"

Envy stood stock-still as he stared incredulously at the teen, his amethyst eyes wide. It was taking everything that he had not to just gape at the younger girl, who paid absolutely no attention to his incredulous expression as she ranted at him.

"Because of you, I got stuck with a brat with an extreme Napoleon complex, all because you tried to kill me!! If it hadn't been for you, maybe I'd still be at home, living a normal life! If you hadn't shown up, maybe I wouldn't have ended up under the watchful eye of a pyromaniac and one of his toadies!!"

Annora stopped yelling as she took a deep, shaking breath, her eyes narrowed in obvious hatred as she glared at the homunculus in front of her. Envy arched an eyebrow as he looked at the furious teenager in front of him, easily sensing the killing intent that was practically rolling off of her in waves.

"Geez… what's gotten into you?" he asked caustically, crossing his half-gloved hands over his skinny chest. "Did you have a bad day or something?"

"A bad day…?" the sixteen-year old gritted out, her expression murderous as her nails dug painfully into her palms. "You think that I had… a _**bad **__**day**_? **TRY THAT I'VE HAD THE WORST FUCKING WEEK OF MY LIFE**!!"

Envy immediately took a step back as the raging force of nature that was Annora Thomas exploded with a fury that he had never seen before at all in his very long life.

"FIRST OF ALL, I WOKE UP FROM A COMA THAT **YOU** PUT ME IN, FOUND OUT THAT MY OLDER BROTHER WAS KILLED IN A WAR THAT MY GOVERNMENT STARTED JUST BECAUSE THE SHIT-FOR-BRAINED IDIOT THAT IS OUR PRESIDENT WANTED MORE** OIL**, AND SOMEONE WHO I THOUGHT WAS A FRIEND THINKS OF ME AS NOTHING MORE THAN A GOD-DAMMED BURDEN THAT HE HAS TO BEAR!! NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT I'M STUCK IN A GOD-FORSAKIEN PALCE THAT SHOULDN'T ACTUALLY **EXIST**, AND I'LL PROBABLY NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE MY FRIENDS OR FAMILY EVER AGAIN ALL BECAUSE THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY FOR ME TO GET HOME!! **I FUCKING **_**HATE**_** THIS PLACE!!**"

Annora stopped as she took in several deep breaths, and Envy stared at her with a deadpan expression on his face before he reached up and wiggled a finger in his ear to make sure that he hadn't gone deaf.

"Sheesh, you done yet?" he asked finally, his lavender eyes narrowed slightly. "I've never heard a brat like you shout like that. You definitely could've given Wrath a run for his money as far as anger goes."

"Wrath?" the teenager queried as she arched an eyebrow. "You mean that there's more than one of you?"

Envy groaned and slapped his face with his hand before he fixed the girl with an annoyed look. "Stupid girl, are you **trying** to make me kill you?"

"Oh go get stuffed," Annora snapped as her brow furrowed in concentration, the look in her eyes distant as she slowly ticked off names on her fingers. "Envy, Wrath, Greed… and then those two that showed up in Dublith, Lust and Gluttony… you're all named after the seven deadly sins!"

"Stunning detective work, brat. Now will you please stop ignoring me?!" the homunculus growled, obviously agitated at the fact that he was being treated like the proverbial chopped liver. The sixteen-year old ignored him as she frowned thoughtfully, understanding slowly dawning upon her as several pieces fell into place.

"The only ones missing are Pride and Sloth, but that just means that I haven't met them yet… and things really went insane right after Ed and Al went to go see that old lady… Dante… at her house…"

Envy froze as he spun around to stare at the girl, an indescribable look on his face as Annora continued to speak, her chocolate eyes wide in shock.

"No way… what if… what if it's all connected? She knew alchemy, and was pretty damn good at it if what Mrs. Curtis had to say was any indication… and the fact that four out of the seven homunculi showed up all within the same day," she muttered thoughtfully. "There's just too much going on for it to be a coincidence…"

"I'd shut up if I were you, wench," Envy growled dangerously, his violet eyes narrowed. "You're coming to conclusions that aren't healthy for you."

Annora ignored the thinly veiled threat as she looked over at the homunculus with wide eyes, incredulity apparent on her face.

"Dante's _Inferno_," she said hoarsely before she burst out laughing. "Oh geez, this is just rich!! I always knew that stupid book would haunt me, but man, I sure didn't see this one coming!!"

Envy promptly face-vaulted at the remark, caught completely off-guard at the younger girl's conclusion.

"Huh?" Envy managed to reply as he arched an eyebrow, not having a clue about what the teen was talking about. At first it had sounded like the girl was close to figuring out who was behind all of the homunculi, and now she was babbling something about a book.

"Are you high on something, or just insane girl?" he finally asked, and Annora rolled her eyes in response.

"No, I'm talking about a book that I read in my English class at school," she retorted. "It's called _The Divine Comedy_ and it's written by a man named Dante. There were three parts to it, one of which being _The Inferno_, which talks about Hell, as in the fiery pit of doom that bad people are supposed to go to when they die. Anyways, it mentioned physical representations of the seven deadly sins in the book, and I just find it incredibly ironic that there are so many parallels to that stupid story right here. I swear that the fates love screwing with me."

Envy stared at the teen for several seconds before he finally was able to say anything remotely intelligent. "You're definitely high on something. I don't think that I've ever heard such mindless bullshit come out of anyone's mouth like that, and I'm four hundred years old."

"If you don't want to listen to me, then leave!!" Annora snapped as she glared at the artificial human. "It's not like I actually care about what you do, just as long as you leave me the hell alone!"

"Even if it involves your pipsqueak friend?" the homunculus asked meaningfully as he leaned up against the brick wall behind him. Annora gave him a supremely dirty look from over her shoulder as she started off away from the Sin, adjusting one of her backpack straps into a more comfortable position on her shoulder.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear any crap from you," the sixteen-year old growled warningly. "And unless you **really** want to serve as conveniently available, indestructible punching bag, it would probably be a smart idea to get the hell out of my way."

Envy smirked as he fixed the girl with a chilling look before he straightened up and a wave of blue alchemic sparks washed up his body from his feet, transforming the homunculus into a perfect copy of Edward, right down to the stray strand of golden hair from his bangs that stuck up into the air. The sixteen-year old bit down on her lip as she regarded the creature in front of her apprehensively, not liking at all where this was going. In response, Envy gave her a very un-Edward-like smile.

"Aw man Annora, you're hurting my feelings," the fake alchemist whined as he gave the teen a mocking whipped-puppy look. "I mean, I thought that-"

Before Annora could even blink, Envy vanished from the spot where he had been standing, and suddenly a cold automail blade was pressed up against the sixteen-year old's throat from the person standing behind her.

"-we were friends," the fake 'Ed' said as he gently reached up and stroked his flesh hand along the girl's left cheek, sending chills running down her spine.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Annora muttered sourly as she slowly dug her right hand into the pocket of her jacket, searching for anything that she might possibly be able to use to distract her captor. "Just goes to show how good I am at getting to know people."

"I don't think so," the homunculus scolded suddenly as he noticed what the girl was trying to do and promptly pressed the sharp steel edge of his automail up against Annora's neck, scorn practically dripping from his words and oozing into a puddle onto the ground. "I'm not nearly as stupid as you think I am. Only an amateur wouldn't have noticed that little stunt."

"I hope you rot in hell," she growled under her breath.

"Pull your hand out of your pocket, brat. And do it slowly."

Annora muttered a soft curse, but did as she was told when Envy gently nicked her neck and drew a few drops of blood.

"Get screwed."

Envy arched a golden eyebrow in surprise at the teenager's nonplussed attitude as he leaned his head over Annora's shoulder to get a better look at her face.

"What's this? No crying, no begging for your life, no screeched threats of defiance, and no insistences that the Fullmetal Pipsqueak will come and save you?" he asked curiously in Ed's voice before a frown crossed his face. "Well you're no fun."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but if I'm going to get killed by some nutjob, I'm at least going to go out with some dignity," she retorted sarcastically as she rolled her eyes upwards. "Besides, I'm not one to rely on someone else to save me. I'm no damsel in distress."

"And why's that?"

"Because I prefer to do the saving of my **own** ass, thank you very much!!" Annora snarled as she hooked her leg around the homunculi's ankle and swiped it out from underneath him before she dug her elbow painfully into the middle of the fake Ed's chest, knocking him away from her as she ducked under the automail blade. Immediately, the sixteen-year old scrambled backwards as she tried to put some distance in between her and the mentally unstable homunculus, only for Envy to bridge the gap between them with one well-executed jump.

"Now that wasn't too bright," he stated mockingly, his currently golden eyes glinting with untold malevolence as he stared down the girl. Annora scowled as she adopted a defensive position, one of the stances Al had taught her when he was teaching her alchemy.

"Bite me," she growled. "Like hell I'm just going to stand around and let you hurt me."

"Well it's hardly like you have a choice in the matter," Envy commented with a smirk. "Now tell me, what's it feel like to be facing off against your little boyfriend and knowing that you're going to die?"

"I'll tell you this much right now; you couldn't have picked a better face for me to punch," the sixteen-year old retorted with a glare as she brought up a clenched fist and cracked her knuckles meaningfully. "And Ed's not my boyfriend!! He's just an insensitive bastard whose ass I want to kick!!"

Envy stared at the teenager for several long moments in disbelief, before he shed Edward's shape and resumed his usual androgynous from. He arched a greenish eyebrow questioningly as he leaned up against a brick wall, his right leg propped up against the rough surface as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well this is scary," the homunculus remarked sourly as he fixed Annora with a scrutinizing look. "You're starting to sound like me."

The teenager froze and blinked in surprise before the implications of what the homunculus had said became clear to her.

"Ewwww…" Annora groaned as she pulled a face, a shudder running down her body. "I could have lived a **really** long time without hearing that particular tidbit of information."

Envy ignored the teenager's obvious disgust as he looked thoughtful, and gave an unholy smirk as he looked Annora right in the eye.

"You mentioned that you had an older brother, didn't you?" he asked slyly, and Annora gave him an odd look as she nodded once in agreement.

"Yeah, I did."

"Oh, this is gonna be good! Tell me how it feels to be killed by someone with the face of one of the ones you love!" the homunculus cackled gleefully as he transformed once again, and Annora found herself looking at an older male version of her. The man had the same honey-brown hair as her, although it didn't extend past the nape of his neck, the same brown eyes, and the same style of bangs hanging in his face. The sixteen-year old sweatdropped as she stared at the taller man, who was wearing the Amestris military uniform, before she let out a groan and slapped her face with her right hand.

"And you call me an idiot," she grumbled, ignoring Envy's shout of protest. "That just looks like a guy version of me, not my brother. I swear, all men are idiots. Besides, my older brother is dead, so there's no feasible way for him to suddenly pop up out of nowhere and try to kill me."

Envy frowned as he crossed his lightly muscled arms over his chest, kicking absentmindedly at the dirt with one of his polished black boots. "You're no fun at all, do you realize that?"

"What did you expect me to do; run towards you with tears in my eyes and leap into your arms crying 'Brother, brother!'?" Annora demanded scathingly as she planted her hands on her hips and scowled. "Please, I'm not that stupid."

"So cynical for one so young."

"So senile for one so old."

Envy scowled at the insult as Annora turned around once again to walk away. The homunculus waited a few moments as the teenager started to walk away from him before he shed the human form he had adopted and called out something that made her freeze in her tracks.

"What if you could bring him back?"

The sixteen-year old stood there motionless for several seconds, her only movement being the violent tremors that shook her entire frame. Slowly she turned around and stared at Envy with wide chocolate eyes, a pained expression on her face as all of the blood drained out, leaving her pale and shaking.

"…What?" she asked incredulously, her words fumbling dumbly in her mouth. "What do… what do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Envy said nonchalantly as he flashed the girl a reassuring smile, which was completely unlike him. "It's actually not that hard, and all you would need for the transmutation to be a success would be a couple of convicts…"

"You mean… that I'd have to kill people…" Annora stammered, her eyes wide. The homunculus frowned as he shook his head, sending strands of long greenish hair whipping about all over the place.

"Not necessarily. The people used would be taken from Death Row, where they're already gonna die anyway," he explained. "Hell, I'll even show you how to get the process started."

"No… there's a catch… there is always a catch…" she whispered hoarsely as she took a precautionary step backwards in an attempt to distance herself from Envy. "Besides, you've flat out gone out of your way to try and kill me before, so why the sudden change of heart?!"

The homunculus gave a dismissive shrug as he looked at the shaking teenager with cat-like amethyst eyes.

"I guess it's the fact that I feel sorry for you," he remarked nonchalantly. "Losing your only family member must be really hard, especially when it's to war. So, what do you say? This is a one-time offer, so you'd better make up your mind fast."

Annora looked down at the dirt street below her, her long bangs shielding her face from view as her shoulders shook violently, and several droplets of water landed on the toes of her shoes. Envy arched an eyebrow as he scrutinized the girl in front of him, noting that she was crying, and when he heard something whispered underneath her breath that he was unable to discern his eyebrow arched even higher.

"Well, I'm waiting," he commented as he tapped his left wrist meaningfully, pretending that he was wearing a watch. "What's it gonna be, kid?"

"Liar," the sixteen-year old hissed as she whipped her head up to glare at him, angry tears streaming down her cheeks. "You just want me to become another one of your pawns, not help me."

"How do you know-?"

"Because moron, there's no cost-free way to bring someone back from the dead! Not to mention the fact that the dead should stay dead, not be brought back to life every time that someone misses them!!"

"You'll never know until you try."

"Bullshit! How do I know that even if I did manage to bring him back without any consequences that there wouldn't be something wrong, that he would be twisted, warped into something other than the older brother that I cared so much about?" Annora snapped angrily as she glowered at Envy with chocolate eyes that blazed with a mixture of anger, confusion, and pain. "What if he hated me for what I had done to bring him back? No, I won't do it. I'd rather deal with the pain of him being gone than to pervert his memory like that!"

Envy scowled as he viewed the teenager in front of him with obvious distaste, the malevolent look back in his eyes.

"You really are stupid, brat," he hissed angrily, and Annora responded with the universal gesture of utmost content, as well as an obscenity that would have made even a sailor cringe. The homunculus rolled his eyes as he fixed the sixteen-year old with a withering glare, baring his pointed teeth in disgust.

"Swearing at me won't do you a damn bit of good."

"No, but it at least makes me feel better," the girl retorted. "My mother didn't raise a fool, unlike yours. I don't make deals with the devil, which was what you were offering me. Ed and Al tried human transmutation before, and that didn't exactly work out, so how could I possibly succeed where they failed?"

Envy opened his mouth to respond, and Annora promptly cut him off. "Sorry, but I've had enough of listening to your idiocy. Now begone, go back to the filth-ridden pit that you escaped from."

Having said her piece, the sixteen-year old yanked on her gloves and clapped her hands together before slamming them down on the ground, resulting in a flurry of electric-blue sparks. Envy started to lunge forward, only to have his legs sink up to his mid-calves in the now softened earth. Just as the homunculus was about to shift into something small to get out of his bonds, metallic looking walls started rising up around him.

"Look familiar?" Annora taunted as she finished the transmutation and stood up, looking at the trashcan that now held a very irate Sin.

"Why you little- get me the hell out of this thing!!" Envy raged as he pounded on the lid violently, only to discover that the teenager had sealed in onto the main part of the trashcan. "I'll kill you for this!!"

"You and what army?"

The homunculus responded with a string of shrieked profanities, most of which were fortunately muffled by the metal walls surrounding him. Annora ignored the series of threats that were directed at her as she clapped her hands together once again and created a large stone hand, which picked up the swearing trashcan and deposited it an a large dumpster. Ironically, this particular dumpster happened to be full of steer manure, further increasing Envy's protests.

"See ya later, loser," Annora remarked flippantly as she sealed the dumpster shut and walked off, leaving behind a furious Sin who continued to shriek threats long after the teenager had left.

Not too long after that, a drunken vagrant strolled down the alley and was confronted with the swearing dumpster. He immediately ran to the closest bar and spilled out his story, only to be laughed at and told that he had too much to drink before he was thrown out. The man solemnly swore that he would never touch another drop of liquor for the rest of his life.

--

**Two days later**

--

"YAGGHHH!! This is so damn frustrating!!"

Al looked over at Ed accusingly as the alchemist screamed his frustration up into the air, while Fletcher stayed behind the older Elric and Russell rolled his eyes upwards. The Tringham brothers had joined in the search for Annora after Al had pummeled Ed for being an idiot, and then politely asked the two boys to help them look for their missing friend as he slung his unconscious older brother over his shoulder.

"Brother, you're the one who made Annora mad," he scolded sternly. "You shouldn't have said those things to her, and you know it!"

"But-!"

"Your brother's right, Elric. You really were a jerk to her, and I'm actually surprised that she was able to put up with you for this long. It's no wonder that she ran off."

"Shut up, you stupid phony!! What the hell do you know about girls anyway?!"

"That you shouldn't treat them like that," Russell shot back as he gave Ed a dirty look. "It's not my fault you were dropped on your head when you were born."

Ed glared at the taller boy for several seconds as his face progressively turned redder before he exploded into a rage, shrieking at Russell.

"STUFF YOUR CRAZY TALK AND GO BACK TO XENOTIME OR WHEREVER THE HELL YOU CAME FROM!!"

Al stared incredulously at his older brother as he tried to jump up and strangle the older Tringham before he groaned and covered his eyes, desperately wanting to pretend that he wasn't even related to the State Alchemist at the moment.

"Gee, Ed, that's **really** mature," he muttered as he shook his head before he looked back over his shoulder at Fletcher. "C'mon, let's go look elsewhere while they go at it, otherwise we'll never be able to find Annora."

"But… if we leave them alone…" Fletcher trailed off nervously as he looked over at Russell, who was by now red in the face as he shouted something highly inappropriate back at Edward. "They might wreck the whole town if someone doesn't stop them."

"Good point."

The possessed suit of armor gave an annoyed sigh as he turned back around and started towards his older brother while Fletcher did the same with his. Almost simultaneously, the two younger siblings attempted to calm their older brothers down.

"Brother… don't we have more important things that we need to do right now?"

"Al, get out of the way!"

"Russell… please calm down."

"Fletcher, move. I need to teach this pipsqueak a lesson."

Fletcher took a step back in shock at the sudden venom in his older brother's tone, and Al sighed as he cast a glance in between the two hotheaded boys. This was getting them nowhere, and fast. The younger Elric immediately decided that he needed to end this fight now before it got any worse.

Wordlessly, Al stooped down and scratched a transmutation circle onto the dusty street before he pressed his gauntleted hands down on it, causing Ed to suddenly sink down into the soil up to his neck, and Russell down to just below his shoulders. Both of the alchemists looked over at the usually tactful boy with identical expressions of disbelief, completely shocked speechless.

"Both of you need to stop fighting, now!" Al snapped, his red-rimmed eyes flashing angrily as he glared at Ed. "Ed, you need to find Annora and apologize to her about what you said, not fight with Russell!! She's been gone for almost three days, so who knows what could have happened to her since the last time we saw her!"

Ed opened his mouth to respond, only to have his younger brother give him a death glare.

"Brother, you either agree to stop fighting, or I'm leaving you here. In the ground."

"… Fine," Ed gritted out reluctantly, and Al released his brother from the dirt before he fixed Russell with a stern look.

"And you, stop antagonizing him."

"Fine."

Within seconds Russell was brushing dirt off of his clothes while Fletcher looked up at Al in amazement.

"Wow… that was a really interesting way to get them to calm down," he remarked. Al looked over at him and shrugged, his tone slightly embarrassed.

"I kind of… let my temper get the better of me," he admitted reluctantly as he rubbed the back of his helmet. "It was just so frustrating that they wouldn't listen to either of us, and we have more important things to do than watch them fight."

A loud growl interrupted the two younger siblings' conversation, and they turned around to see Ed standing there with a slightly embarrassed look on his face as he held one hand to his stomach before he glared at Al in response to the accusing look that he was given.

"What?" he demanded indignantly. "I can't help the fact that I'm hungry!"

"No, you're just a bottomless pit," Russell remarked snarkily before he gave Ed a knowing smirk. "Not that it helped you grow at all anyways. You probably haven't grown at all since you were twelve Ed."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE COULD BE IN A SIDESHOW AT A CARNIVAL?!"

Al and Fletcher both simultaneously groaned as they watched the two older boys go at it once again. The younger Elric frowned internally and would have gritted his teeth if he had been able to.

"Fletcher, are you hungry?" he asked evenly, trying not to show his irritation at his brother's immaturity. The younger boy looked up at him with wide blue eyes before he nodded, and Al looked over his shoulder at a line of business behind him. One of which happened to be a tavern, and according to Ed was a good source of local information.

"How about we go there?" he suggested, and Fletcher gave him a curious look. "Brother always says that if you want to find something out about a town, look in places like that, because there's just everyday people in there. That… and the food's cheaper in there."

"Sure," the younger Tringham agreed before he looked over at Russell and pointed over at the tavern. "Brother, we're getting lunch in there!! If you want any, that's where I'll be!"

The fifteen-year old didn't acknowledge Fletcher's comment as he and Ed continued to shout insults at each other, thus attracting a large amount of stares from passers-by. Al groaned as he covered his face with his hand once again, and Fletcher softly muttered something under his breath about being embarrassed to be seen with Russell in public. Wordlessly, the two boys turned around and entered the establishment, sitting down at an empty booth close to the front door.

A few minutes later, a girl came up to their table holding two rather battered-looking menus and a small white notepad in her hands, a smile on her face. The moment she caught sight of Al however, she let out a sharp gasp and dropped the objects, all of them landing at her feet with a loud 'thud', and one of the battered menus gave up its fight for survival as it split right down the middle.

"Crap," the girl muttered as she dropped into a crouch and gathered up the items hurriedly, several strands of her long brownish hair falling into her face. Al frowned as he looked down curiously at the girl, who was probably a little older than him. He recognized her voice, but when she straightened up he couldn't believe who he was looking at.

"Annora?" the fifteen-year old asked incredulously, and Annora frowned slightly as she put the two menus on the table in front of him and Fletcher.

"Yeah?" she commented as she arched an eyebrow, and then scowled when Al pointed a shaking gloved finger at her clothing, which happened to be a knee-length pleated navy skirt and a white, long-sleeved button-up blouse. "Not one word, Al."

"But… you're wearing a **skirt**."

"Yes, I know. No, hell hasn't frozen over," the sixteen-year old remarked dryly as she rolled her eyes upwards. "I just have to wear this kind of stuff for this job."

"Wait… you're **working** here?"

"No, I'm just running around dressed like this and handing out menus to random people for the hell of it."

The alchemist fell silent as he stared wordlessly at Annora who gave a frustrated sigh and automatically reached up to run a hand through her bangs, only to find that they were still held back by her dark blue headband.

"Look Al, I kind of **had** to get a job, because A) Money doesn't grow on trees, and B) I needed to have some method of supporting myself," she explained. "There was no way in hell that I was going to go back to you guys just because I had no way to survive. No offense or anything, it's just that I wouldn't have been able to deal with Edward taunting me about it until the day I died."

"I didn't even know that you **owned** a skirt."

"I don't. The owner's daughter is getting married and was moving out the day I got hired, so she gave me some of her old clothes because they didn't fit her anymore."

Fletcher, who had been quiet throughout this whole exchange, looked over at Alphonse curiously, his blue eyes wide.

"Is this the friend that you guys were looking for?" he asked quietly, and Annora arched an eyebrow as she finally noticed him while Al nodded in agreement.

"Oh, hey there," she said with a smile. "Sorry about that, my manners are horrible. I'm Annora Thomas."

"Fletcher Tringham. It's really nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Al chuckled as he gently took the damaged menu from Annora's hands and drew a transmutation circle on the battered surface before he returned it to a newer, and undamaged state.

"Your manners are better than Brother's are," he remarked calmly, and the sixteen-year old girl gave a loud groan as she rolled her eyes upwards in exasperation.

"Oh God, what has he done now?" she asked as she handed the other menu to Fletcher. "Flipped off a little old lady, or pick yet another fight with someone bigger than him?"

"He picked a fight with Russell, the boy that you met that he called-"

"A phony, an obvious fake? Yeah, I remember him. It's kind of hard to forget someone who's blatantly flirting with you while claiming to be someone that you happen to know personally," Annora muttered dryly, not noticing Fletcher's sudden strangled squeak at hearing that particular piece of information. "Good grief, Edward has to be the only person on this entire planet who can have a conversation with someone consisting almost entirely of the phrases 'you bastard' and 'stupid phony'."

"That definitely sounds like Brother," Al remarked, and Annora pulled a face at this.

"Not to mention that he's tactless, insensitive, and rude," she stated as she counted off Ed's major character flaws on her fingers. "At least that other guy, Russell, had **some** manners."

Fletcher appeared somewhat nervous as he ran a hand through his short blond hair, and the sixteen-year old looked down at him.

"Hey, kiddo, are you okay?" she asked, and the younger boy nodded as he cast a glance back over towards the tavern door, his blue eyes worried.

"Yeah, I'm just wondering if my brother will be all right. He's the one that Ed's getting into a fight with right now."

Annora blinked in surprise while she made a small 'oh' sound as she glanced over at the door and frowned thoughtfully before she looked back over at Al.

"So that means that Ed will probably be coming in sometime soon then, huh?" she asked, a faint note of bitterness in her voice. Al cringed inwardly at the older girl's tone as he nodded, and the teenager gave a frustrated sigh as she absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair.

"Great, I'll have to deal with the bonehead then. Al, don't you dare tell him that I'm working here, otherwise I swear I'll throw you in a river or something."

"Annora, there aren't any rivers near Rush Valley."

"Crap. Look… just don't tell Ed that I'm here, okay? If he's going to apologize to me, I want him to do it by himself," the sixteen-year old pointed out sternly. "Anyways, I'll be back later for your order, and with some drinks. What do you want… Fletcher, was it?"

"Umm… water please, and maybe a glass of milk?" the younger boy suggested as he cast a sideways glance over at Al, who nodded encouragingly. Annora smiled as she jolted down the order and turned around before she headed off to the kitchen area, presumably to get the mentioned drinks.

The two boys exchanged bewildered looks as they just sat and stared at each other, with Fletcher trying to wrap his mind around the concept of the older girl going almost seamlessly from being irritated to nice and polite.

"Is… she always like that?" the blond asked as he hesitantly indicated in the direction that Annora had gone off in. Al was silent for a few moments before he responded, and when he did his tone was thoughtful.

"Sometimes," the possessed suit of armor finally admitted with a shrug. "She's just… been having a really hard time with some things lately. Her older brother got killed last week, and her parents aren't in the country right now, so she's all alone. Brother saying that she's nothing more than a burden that Colonel Mustang shoved off on him was probably her breaking point, especially since she thought he was her friend."

Fletcher winced as he looked over in the direction that Annora had gone, his blue eyes wide. "What was her brother's name?"

"Ethan, I think."

The younger Tringham turned around to look at Al before he made a small noise in the back of his throat. "That's weird."

"Why is that weird?"

"Well… your older brother's name begins with an 'E', and so does hers… and both of you are the youngest and your names both begin 'A'. Don't tell me that you don't think that isn't a little weird."

Al stared at Fletcher with wide red eyes for several seconds before he gave a slight chuckle and shook his head.

"You're right; that is weird," he admitted. "I never realized that before."

The younger boy opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by to door to the tavern being thrown open by a highly irritated Fullmetal Alchemist, who was followed inside by a very smug Russell. The older teen scowled darkly as he stalked over to where Al and Fletcher were sitting, his gloved right hand clenching and unclenching methodically as he ground his teeth together audibly.

"Don't even ask, Al," he grumbled, while Russell snickered under his breath. The already annoyed alchemist spun around with a low growl, more than ready to punch the taller boy's lights out, only for Russell to easily reach out and shove him back away from him.

It was at that very moment that the irony gods struck with incredible accuracy.

Ed careened backwards right into Annora, who was approaching the table holding a tray with a large plastic pitcher full of ice water and a small mug of milk in her hands. The teenage alchemist collided painfully with the taller girl and knocked her over, sending the pitcher of water flying up into the air in a high arc. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for a few brief moments as the pitcher's contents flew out and spilled out onto Annora and the State Alchemist lying halfway in her lap, drenching them both.

Annora sputtered wordlessly as she stared down at Ed, several strands of dripping-wet brown hair hanging in her face as she glared daggers at the smaller boy.

"You… you," she stammered as her face went red with anger, brown eyes narrowed dangerously as murderous intent practically rolled off of her in waves. Ed promptly scrambled away from the stunned and incensed teenager, sensing the immediate danger to his person.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about-" the teenage alchemist froze as he realized who he was talking to, and his golden eyes widened even further. "Annora?"

"No shit Sherlock!!" the sixteen-year old growled as she sat up and glared at him. "Why don't you actually watch what you're doing for once, instead of flailing about like a bull in a china shop!!"

Ed opened his mouth to say something nasty, only to stop as his eyes unwillingly traveled downward and a furious blush blossomed across his face. Annora looked down to see what he was staring at, and promptly swore like a drill sergeant as she attempted to cover up her chest, where her sports bra was now clearly showing through her wet shirt. Russell was also gawking at the sight that he had just been treated to, although this went unnoticed by the majority of the group except for Fletcher.

"What the hell is going on here?!" a male voice boomed out ominously, and Ed looked up to see a dark-haired male server stride over to where the four teens were before he took in the situation immediately.

"Crap," the man, who looked like he was in his early twenties, muttered as he promptly yanked off his apron and threw it over the sopping-wet Annora. "Here, put this on and go back into the kitchens. I'll go and have Emma get you a dry shirt in a few minutes, after I've dealt with this."

"Thanks Matt," Annora said quietly as she wrapped the dark fabric around herself and retreated back into the kitchens while Matt turned around and glared daggers at Ed and Russell.

"So, you two thought it'd be funny to spill a little water on a girl so you could see a little bit of action, huh?" he growled dangerously, his green eyes flashing ominously beneath his brown bangs. "Well I've got news for you; that kind of crap does not fly with me!"

"Whoa there pops, we didn't do that on purpose!!" Ed shot back as he stood up, and unfortunately for him the older man got a very good look at his silver pocket watch chain.

"So you're a State Alchemist, huh?" Matt stated coolly as he crossed his arms over his chest. Ed scowled as he looked defiantly up at the taller man, his golden eyes narrowed angrily.

"Yeah, I am!!"

Two seconds later, both Ed and Russell were sent flying unceremoniously out the front door and into the dirt street.

"Get out of here! We don't have food to spare on dogs of the military!" Matt shouted at the two boys before he looked accusingly over his shoulder at Alphonse and Fletcher. "Are you two with them?!"

"No sir."

"Good."

And with that parting statement, Matt promptly slammed the door shut in Ed and Russell's face. The younger teen looked over at Ed and gave him a supremely dirty look, his blue eyes narrowed accusingly as he attempted to squirm out from underneath the State Alchemist.

"Way to go, Elric."

"Shut it Russell."

--

Ethan stared ahead at the black-haired man in front of him, completely spaced out as the older man shoved an endless amount of photos into his face, all the while gushing about how cute his daughter was.

"-she's so smart!! Already Elysia knows how to tie her shoes, and can even go potty on the big toilet by herself without any help from Mommy!!"

'_Please God, just kill me now. What in the hell did I __**ever**__ possibly do to deserve this kind of torture?'_

"And I'm not just proud of my daughter!! I'm proud of my wife too!! She's like an angel that descended down from heaven and graced me with her presence!"

'_I think I must have killed a saint in a past life.'_

"Hey, Eric, you're looking a bit green there!! How about I show you a special edition photo to help freshen you up! Lookie here; it's the wonderful swimsuit edition of Elysia last summer with Mommy's hat on!!"

'_Scratch that; I killed the __**Pope**__.'_

On the other side of the office, Mustang was watching the entire scene through his open door and trying not to snicker. The new recruit looked like he was seriously contemplating suicide, and it was all the older man could do not to laugh. Hughes was in one of his moods where only an act of God could possibly stop him, and it was best to just stay quiet and not do anything to attract attention to yourself if you didn't want to die by overexposure to Elysia and her 'cuteness'.

Mustang smirked as he reached over to pull a sheet of paper off of the top of his large pile of paperwork and do something useful with it – aka burn it – when in happened. His metal pen clattered to the floor with a sound that echoed ominously in the silent room.

Almost immediately Hughes abandoned torturing Ethan, allowing the Private to heave a sigh of relief, and descended upon Mustang in a whirlwind of photographs. For all of ten seconds the Colonel endured the countless snapshots of the four-year old girl, as well as Hughes's non-stop babbling, before he snapped.

"Hughes, if you stuff that picture in my face one more time, you will not be getting it back in one piece," the black-haired man growled, his dark eyes narrowed ominously. Hughes blinked before he frowned at the younger man, the look on his face indicating that he thought his friend had just uttered the worst of blasphemies.

"You wouldn't do that Roy. Besides, Elysia is just too cute for someone to burn her picture!" the Lt. Col. insisted in an affronted tone as he hugged one of the multiple photographs to his chest. Mustang merely arched a dark eyebrow challengingly, completely unaware of the fact that Ethan, Havoc, and everyone else out in the main office was watching the proceedings intently.

"Don't bet on it Maes."

"Well then, I guess the copy machine in the staff room will be getting a lot of use from now on!" Hughes said cheerfully, one of his usual smiles stuck firmly in place. The response was almost immediate.

"…" Mustang's jaw dropped as he stared incredulously at the older man, his dark eyes wide in horror at the very thought of Hughes being able to produce more pictures than usual.

"Hmm… maybe I should send memos out to people…" the Investigations officer mused thoughtfully as he brought his hand up to his chin. Mustang let out a loud groan and immediately started banging his head on his desk, silently cursing his lot in life. Ethan and everyone else out in the main portion of the office started sniggering at the Colonel's predicament, glad that their superior was also sharing the torture that they were forced to endure.

"Hughes, just go."

"Not yet, Roy! I still haven't shown you this adorable little picture of Elysia with a kitten that she found!!"

--

Omake - What **really** happened in the alleyway:

"What if you could bring him back?"

Annora stood there motionless for several seconds, her only movement being the violent tremors that shook her entire frame. Slowly she turned around and stared at Envy with wide chocolate eyes, a pained expression on her face as all of the blood drained out, leaving her pale and shaking.

"…What?" she asked incredulously, her words fumbling dumbly in her mouth. "What do… what do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Envy said nonchalantly as he flashed the girl a reassuring smile, which was completely unlike him. "It's actually not that hard, and all you would need for the transmutation to be a success would be a couple of convicts…"

"You mean… that I'd have to kill people…" Annora stammered, her eyes wide. The homunculus frowned as he shook his head, sending strands of long greenish hair whipping about all over the place.

"Not necessarily. The people used would be taken from Death Row, where they're already gonna die anyway," he explained. "Hell, I'll even show you how to get the process started."

"No… there's a catch… there is always a catch…" she whispered hoarsely as she took a precautionary step backwards in an attempt to distance herself from Envy. "Besides, you've flat out gone out of your way to try and kill me before, so why the sudden change of heart?!"

The homunculus gave a dismissive shrug as he looked at the shaking teenager with cat-like amethyst eyes.

"I guess it might be because I love you," Envy stated smoothly as he stalked up to the stunned teenager. Wordlessly, the homunculus reached down and tilted Annora's tear-streaked face up towards his before he gently placed his lips onto hers. The sixteen-year old stiffened up for a moment in shock before she relaxed and responded, deepening the kiss…

"Okay, that's good. Wrap it up!" a voice rang out, and then added as an afterthought, "Geez, I think **I'm** gonna hurl."

Immediately, both Annora and Envy sprang away from each other like they had been scalded, the two of them retching and gagging.

"Gah, poison! My mouth is ruined!!" Annora moaned as she retched, wiping her mouth furiously on her jacket sleeve in an attempt to remove all traces of Envy. "I'm going to be sick now. Please make room."

"I'm not much better off," the homunculus remarked sourly as he cast a glance over at Wandering Hitokiri, who was directing the cleanup of the set. "Oi, woman, are you sure that this will work? I want those idiots to stop pairing me with this idiotic human, now!"

"Hopefully," the young woman commented offhandedly. "Patience is a virtue, you know."

"My name is Envy, woman. Why the hell would I have any virtues?" the Sin growled darkly, while Annora just rolled her eyes and headed off towards her set locker.

"Good point," Hitokiri admitted before she let out a jaw-cracking yawn. "Damn I'm tired. These nighttime scenes are killing me."

"Not if I get to you first."

Hitokiri just rolled her eyes upwards as she looked speculatively at the homunculus and arched an eyebrow. "You know, I can always bring out that cardboard box with your human remains in it and toss you into a horde of your screaming fangirls."

"… you wouldn't."

"Try me. You know damn good and well that I will, and not lose a single night's sleep over the matter either."

"I hate you."

"Join the club. Ed's been in it since the beginning of the story."

"What about the Pyro Colonel?" Annora piped up curiously as she swung her backpack over her shoulder, ready for Ethan to join up with her so they could go home. Hitokiri smirked as she gave a nonchalant shrug and stuck her hands into her pockets.

"He became the vice-president the day I wrote the scene where you prank him. I just need to make sure that I keep a fire hose ready in my room, and I'm good."

"Oooh, chills and thrills," the teen commented sarcastically. "Yet another instance of where Mustang is as useless as his Ford namesake."

"I HEARD THAT!!" Mustang shrieked from somewhere outside of the set.

--

Hey there everyone!! This was a very interesting chapter to write, seeing as there's so much that's been going on in it lately. Ethan has to adjust to life in Central, Annora seems to be coping just fine without Ed, and Ed acts like an idiot yet again after he experiences the much-feared female ability to hold a grudge.

Out of all of the different scenes in this particular chapter, I really liked the ones where Envy tried to talk Annora into doing human transmutation and Hughes almost killed Ethan with his unending slideshow of Elysia pictures the best. I would be immensely pleased if someone could possibly send me some drawings of these two scenes… hint hint. You can reach me at: theshinsengumisshadow (at) yahoo (dot) com if you possibly want to e-mail me any artwork.

**Ed:** You are unbelievable.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** I'll take that one as a compliment. Besides, **dude**, you are in some serious hot water with several of your fans right now, so I'd be nice. Your lovely treatment of Annora in the last chapter has a lot of people offering to come here and punch your lights out, among other things. I even had one reviewer threaten to sic her dog on you if you didn't get your act together.

**Ed:** WHAT?! But… but I-

**Wandering Hitokiri:** You what, acted like a complete and total asshole to someone who thought that you were her friend? Yeah, you did do that. Congratulations, you really know how to make an ass out of yourself.

**Ed:** But you're the one writing this stupid story!!

**Wandering Hitokiri:** (Tries to look innocent) Maybe… then again, I could just be a figment of _your_ imagination.

**Ed:** …

**Reviews:**

agent000: As you probably noticed, I changed some of the stuff that you suggested, and as a whole I'm more satisfied with my work. Thank you so very much for the advice. And don't worry at all about the constructive criticism… it makes my day to have someone actually give me something to work with so I can improve my story. As for becoming a published author, that's my dream someday!!

MyDarkSideHasAWayOfHerOwn: Oh, Ethan will soon turn out to be the bane of Envy's very existence, and he will definitely get into some verbal sparring matches with Mustang. Jeff Dunham is freaking hysterical. No, you are not getting your hands on explosives of any kind, especially IED's. Yes, Ed is an idiot, but somehow I don't see him taking the therapy idea all too well.

**Ed:** You try and send me to one of those therapy groups, and you will _**die**_.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Sorry, but only my brothers and parents have the legal right to kill me. You'll have to talk to them first.

Red Tatsu: To each their own. A green octopus… I've never heard that one before.

**Envy:** I'm glad that I have a fan… but I still don't like the crack about my hair!

Lost and Never Found: You what?

sunshineemomix: Wow, thanks for all the feedback. And as for what Annora told Mustang in the second chapter, she told him very loudly to go screw himself in the middle of a crowded street. Wouldn't that make you want to gag someone? As for the jerky reviewer, it was taken care of a long time ago.

richard9311: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked it. Thanks for staying with me for this long.

tiggeranddash: Ethan will definitely give Mustang and the others some form of retribution for their little paperwork stunt sometime in the future, but he also learns to get along with all of the men in Mustang's group. Let's just say that Havoc might finally get some help in finding and keeping a girlfriend!

Zilo Sugarpill: Annora won't find out about Ethan being alive for a while, but she will notice the new soldier who looks eerily like him. You have to remember that Annora's still getting used to the animated style of the FMA world and so is Ethan, so neither of them will be putting the dots together for a while.

anime.storm: Wow… I'm gonna guess that you're more than a little upset at Ed's behavior. If you want to sic your dog on him, I'm not gonna stop you.

**Ed:** WHO'RE YOU CALLING A HALF-PINT MIDGET BEANSPROUT WHO COULDN'T GROW UP EVEN IF HE TRIED?! You… you'd better keep that dog away from me, and I'M NOT A DWARF!! (Gets attacked by **anime.storm**'s dog) Get this stupid thing off of me!!

Call-me-Lie-chan: The thing is Annora doesn't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds her.

Phantom SunsSong: No, Mustang's too dense for that. As for what's going on, you'll just have to wait. Ethan definitely has a place in the storyline, but it won't become clear for a while. Yes, those were all Indiana Jones references, as well as some hints to some of my own stories.

Lulu4ever: Yep, I'm definitely near the end of the story now. Probably somewhere within the ten-chapter ballpark or so. Things are all starting to fall together for our characters now, like some huge and perverse jigsaw puzzle.

Mei Fire: Thank you. Epic is good.

The-Living Shadow: Just a little bit. He's a sixteen-year old boy; what do you expect?


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Forgiveness

"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail

"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

**Chapter Eighteen:**

**Forgiveness**

Annora scowled as she sat out on the back step behind the tavern, an overly large white shirt draped around her thin frame as she tried unsuccessfully to towel her hair dry. Matt had come into the kitchen apologetically with one of his own shirts, saying that Emma, one of the other servers, didn't have a spare one for the teen to use.

"This… is just so… **stupid**!!" the sixteen-year old grumbled as she set the large white bar towel down in her lap and ran a hand through her tangled wet hair. "Why did he have to show up? Why?!"

With an annoyed sigh, Annora slouched down in her seat and buried her head in her hands as her thoughts whirled about dizzyingly in her mind. When Al had come in earlier, he had seemed worried, and then relieved when he had seen her. Had he and Ed been looking for her, and enlisting Russell and Fletcher's help in the process?

"Gah, why are things so damn complicated anymore?" the teenager muttered as she straightened up and looked up at the slowly fading afternoon sky before she reached back and pushed her soggy hair out of her face. "Life was so much easier when all I had to worry about was school, chores, and what to make for dinner. No damn alchemists, no military, no homunculi… and Ethan was still alive…"

A far-off expression entered Annora's eyes as she stared unseeingly ahead of her for a few moments before she gave a pained sigh. "I wish that I had never come here."

"Yeah, sometimes I wish that too," a familiar voice remarked grumpily from somewhere off to her right, and Annora immediately whipped around to look at the speaker before she scowled darkly in response.

"Oh, it's you."

Ed frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest, golden eyes narrowed as he fixed the taller girl with a dirty look. "I've been looking all over this damn town for you, half-expecting to find your corpse in an alley or river, and all you can say is 'oh, it's you'?! Dammit Annora, what the hell crawled up your ass and died?!"

"You did," was the flat response from the sixteen-year old as she went back to ignoring him. "Why are you even here right now anyways? I thought that you'd be ecstatic about the fact that you didn't have to baby-sit me anymore."

The teenage alchemist made a loud strangled noise of frustration as he glared daggers at Annora, who didn't even bother to look at him as she returned to toweling her hair dry.

"Will you just look at me for ten seconds and let me-!"

"No, I won't!!" Annora snapped as she looked up and gave the State Alchemist a venomous glare out of the corner of her eye, her expression one of glacial fury. "I am so sick and tired of you bossing me around, telling me what to do and believe, and shoving me away when I try to be your friend. Well guess what Ed; I'm not doing this anymore."

The boy stared at her incredulously before he opened his mouth and managed to make a strangled noise of protest "But-"

"But nothing!!" the sixteen-year old growled as she cut him off mercilessly. "I'm not going to just sit around on my butt and let everyone else make all of my decisions for me. I refuse to just let you keep treating me like I'm nothing more than a hindrance, especially when I try to be your friend."

"Dammit Annora, I wasn't trying to shove you away!!" Ed shot back as he fixed the taller girl with an annoyed glower. "I was trying to keep that bastard phony, Russell, away from you!"

Annora stiffened up unconsciously as she slowly fixed the teenage alchemist with an incredulous look, her chocolate eyes widening slightly in surprise. She opened her mouth and her lips moved wordlessly in shock before she finally managed to regain her voice.

"What?"

Ed scowled as he looked away from his friend and felt his cheeks heat up in obvious embarrassment, his eyes narrowing slightly as he tried to encourage his stubborn mouth to voice what he was thinking.

"Look, Russell is nothing more than a damn skirt-chaser and he'll go after anything that even smells female. The fact that you're traveling with me just makes you more of a challenge, and more interesting," the Fullmetal Alchemist admitted reluctantly, refusing to meet Annora's bewildered gaze as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck with his gloved right hand. "I wasn't trying to hurt you or anything. And if I did… well, I'm sorry."

Annora stared at him incredulously for several seconds before she gave a wry chuckle and shook her head as she stood up. "Did hell freeze over or something and someone forgot to tell me?"

"No!!" Ed bristled angrily at the comment as the girl arched a tawny eyebrow delicately before a small smile crossed her lips.

"I'm just messing with you, Ed, geez. I'm just surprised that you actually apologized for once. You've never struck me as the type to admit that they're wrong."

"Well don't get too used to it, 'cause it won't happen again."

Annora rolled her eyes upwards and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'boys' under her breath before she shook her head and headed towards the back door of the tavern. Ed noticed the direction that she was headed in and frowned, arching a golden eyebrow in obvious confusion.

"Hey, where are you going?" he called out, and Annora gave him a knowing grin over her shoulder as she opened the door.

"I'm going to get my stuff, dummy," she pointed out in an obvious tone. "I'm not running off to god knows where with you and Al in a skirt. Besides, I need to pack up a few things from the room I've been staying in before I leave. Give me about ten minutes and I'll meet you out front."

Before the shorter boy could say anything else, Annora disappeared back inside the tavern, leaving behind a bewildered State Alchemist.

"She's coming… back with us?" he muttered incredulously, his golden eyes wide as he stared numbly at the wooden back door in shock. "Just like that? I thought she would scream at me again… or start swearing at me… but she didn't do any of that. What the hell is going on here?!"

And thus Annora left Ed with the worst possible punishment that she could have ever inflicted upon the teenage alchemist; the uncertainty of not knowing when the other shoe was going to drop.

--

Al couldn't help but chuckle quietly at the bemused expression on Ed's face as his older brother came and flopped down next to him on the wooden steps leading up to the front door of the tavern. Never before had the fifteen-year old seen anything equal to the complete and total lack of comprehension on his brother's face, and he privately suspected that Annora had played a few mind games with the alchemist before she had agreed to come back with them.

"So, is Annora coming back with us?" the possessed suit of armor ventured, even though he already knew the answer. Ed remained silent for a few moments before he finally spoke, and when he did he sounded slightly dazed.

"Yeah."

"Brother, did you apologize?"

"Yeah, I did. She didn't even yell at me. I kept expecting her to blow up and call me a jerk and everything, but all she did was ask me to wait a bit while she got packed and changed."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Ed muttered solemnly before he fixed his younger sibling with a worried look. "She's probably going to get back at me in some horrific way, isn't she?"

"Probably, if she's anything like Winry when she's upset."

There was a long stretch of silence as the teenage alchemist turned an interesting shade of ashen gray at the mere thought of Annora's possible retribution before he swallowed loudly as he finally summoned up the nerve to speak.

"I'm doomed."

"More than likely. I don't think that Annora would hit you upside the head with a torque wrench though."

"Don't bet on that. Just let me know if she comes up behind us looking like a psychotic axe-murderer, that way I have enough time to run."

Just as the two siblings were about to voice further speculations on what their friend would do to the elder Elric as possible payback, Russell came around the corner with Fletcher in tow. The blonde arched an eyebrow as he gave Ed a speculative look before he smirked and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I take it that she hasn't killed you yet," he jeered slightly, and Ed gave the taller boy a dirty look before he responded with the one-fingered salute.

"Brother!!" Al gasped in shock as he hastily closed his gauntleted hand around his brother's automail one in an attempt to cover up the obscene gesture. "Don't be rude!"

"It's none of his damn business, Al!" the sixteen-year old protested as he struggled to wrench his hand from the possessed suit of armor's grasp. "He has no right to ask about this, and I was just telling him so!"

"Well then tell it to him verbally!!"

Neither of the two Elrics noticed the front door to the tavern open in the fading light as they proceeded to get into a loud scuffle on the front steps, nor did they notice someone step out and stare at them incredulously for several seconds.

"Umm… did I miss something here?"

The fight immediately ground to a halt as Ed looked up at Annora, who stood there on the front steps of the tavern clad in a t-shirt and jeans with her jacket thrown over one arm and a bewildered look on her face.

"I think the runt was just being an idiot, as usual," Russell commented smoothly as he dodged Ed's initial punch before Al chose to restrain him and sidled up alongside Annora with a wide grin. "You know, you're pretty cute. Maybe you should just ditch Ed and come with us. Unlike Fullmetal, I actually know how to treat a lady."

And then, in front of everyone, the older Tringham gently took Annora's right hand and kissed it as he bowed down low. There was a loud thump as the sixteen-year old lost her grip on her backpack strap and it slipped off of her shoulder before landing on the dusty ground, while Ed's jaw dropped several inches in shock as his entire body fell limp in Al's grasp. Annora stared at Russell in wide-eyed disbelief as Ed finally managed to squirm out of Al's grasp and forcefully placed himself in between the two, the expression in his golden gaze murderous as he made a low noise of disgust in the back of his throat.

"You had better think twice before you say those stupid things… or someone might send you flying through the roof!" he growled venomously as he glared up at the taller boy with his fist clenched meaningfully. Russell arched an eyebrow curiously at his actions before Annora immediately decided to break things up before they descended into the level of yet another fistfight in between the two boys.

"Okay, you know what, I think we need to break this up because we have a train to catch," she said brusquely, giving Al a pleading look as she physically held the two alchemists apart by placing her hands on their chests and pushing them away from her. The fifteen-year old immediately caught the girl's drift and grabbed a hold of the hood to Ed's trench coat, effectively restraining his brother for the moment.

"She's right, Brother," Al said as he attempted to drag Ed away from the scene. "We really should get going if we want to catch the next train."

Russell watched the proceedings with barely contained amusement for a few moments as Annora hastily slipped her backpack straps over her shoulders and slung the strap to her laptop case across her chest before she hurried over to where her two friends were. The elder Tringham waited a few seconds as the three teens walked away from him and Fletcher before he called out a taunt that caused Ed to go absolutely ballistic.

"So I was right; she **is** your girlfriend!"

Annora and Al were forced the restrain the Fullmetal Alchemist as he tried to whirl around and charge at Russell, fully intending on ending the taller boy's existence right at that precise moment by throttling the life out of him. Unfortunately, they could do nothing to prevent the continuous stream of expletives, coupled with several very painful-sounding death threats, that Edward hurled at the other alchemist as he struggled wildly in the crook of Al's arm.

"YOU STUPID, SLIMY BASTARD!! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS SO HARD THAT YOU HAVE TO SHIT OUT YOUR MOUTH!!"

Fortunately, at that point Al was able to clap a hand over Ed's mouth to keep him from saying anything else, even though the enraged muffled shrieks coming from the smaller sibling left very little to the imagination as to what he might possibly be saying.

Alphonse and Annora just looked at each other before they decided that it was probably best to just go to the train station, and get as far away from Russell as they possibly could. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the sport that he most enjoyed was pushing Ed's buttons. So, without further ado, the two promptly hauled the enraged alchemist away in the direction of the station, leaving Russell standing there in the street with Fletcher right behind him, chuckling slightly at the fact that he had successfully gotten under Ed's skin once again.

--

**Central**

--

Ethan let out a weary groan as he slid into his seat at his desk, pausing for one brief moment to glare at the small pile of paperwork that lay in his 'In' tray before he set his khaki satchel down on the ground next to his feet. He had been in Amestris for a week now, and all he had done was paperwork, and sleep in his military-issued dorm room in the barracks, as well as make a few small forays into town to get food and supplies, like normal clothing. So far, the only intelligence that he had been able to gather on this strange country was the fact that everyone in the small troop that he had been assigned to, including his superior officer, Mustang, was absolutely **nuts**.

Yesterday, it had been the incident with Hughes and his never-ending whirlwind of photos, and the day before that one of the men's toilets had somehow exploded, almost flooding the records room, and sending a sopping-wet Fuery running out like the hounds of Hell were after him.

"Please let today be somewhat sane, for just once," the twenty-year old prayed quietly as he settled into his wooden chair and pulled out a pen, starting on his paperwork immediately. Ethan made it to about his third sheet without major incident before anything actually happened, and by then everyone else in the office had already arrived, excluding Hawkeye, because she was always early.

When Lt. Colonel Hughes walked into the office area, Ethan immediately stiffened up and prepared to make a sudden trip outside of the work area for 'urgent business' in the men's room, only to be surprised when the older man pulled out a sheaf of papers from inside his jacket and leaned up against Havoc's desk.

"Have you all heard the news?" he asked calmly as he peered around the room at all of the assembled soldiers. Hawkeye arched a blonde eyebrow curiously as she gave her co-worker an odd look, her mouth slightly pursed.

"Why, what happened?"

The usually eccentric man gave a slight frown as he pushed his square-framed glasses up onto the bridge of his nose, his golden-green eyes unnaturally serious.

"One of the supply officers is getting sacked," he remarked, and immediately everyone's attention was focused on him. Mustang even came out of his office where he was pretending to do work and leaned up against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest as he listened intently to his friend's news.

"Maes, what brought this decision along?" the Colonel asked quietly, and Hughes gave a slight shrug as he shuffled half-heartedly through his papers.

"Apparently about a week ago an entire uniform went missing from the storeroom, boots and everything," the Investigations officer said slowly, and Ethan promptly felt his blood run cold as realization hit him. "The guy insists that nothing was gone when he went on break that day, but several of the higher-ups think that he's just trying to cover his ass. Personally, I think that someone stole the uniform just so that they could use it to get inside the military, probably as a spy of some kind. So you guys need to keep your eyes peeled for any suspicious characters, and any military members that you don't know who just seem to appear out of nowhere."

By this point, Ethan felt as though he were about to be violently ill, and it was all he could do to stay calm. If he hadn't known any better, he could have sworn that Hughes was talking to him. The older man may not have been looking at him when he had said this, but the twenty-year old had a sinking suspicion that the Lt. Colonel knew more than what he was letting on.

Somehow, Maes Hughes **knew** that he didn't belong there.

--

"Jesus, this is bad," Ethan groaned quietly as he held his head in his hands, even though he was on high alert for anyone who might have a sudden need to enter the men's bathroom. He was seated on the lid of one of the many toilets in the stalls, valiantly attempting to fight back the almost overwhelming wave of nausea that threatened to swamp him.

It had taken the Private about ten minutes to whip through the rest of his paperwork, and then leave the office area with the excuse that he had eaten some bad food last night and was having stomach problems.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," the twenty-year old groaned as he closed his eyes and prayed that he would be able to get a grip sometime soon. Why the hell was it that he could handle being cannon fodder for the past year, and shooting at terrorists, and yet a simple spy mission made him fall apart?

Maybe it was the small fact that if he got found out he'd be horribly tortured and interrogated before he was finally allowed to die.

Ethan muttered what sounded like a cuss word in Iraqi, and sighed, only to almost hit the ceiling as someone whose voice he immediately recognized spoke calmly from right outside his stall door.

"So, is that something from the language that they speak in wherever you're from? It didn't sound very polite."

The soldier fell off of his toilet seat in shock, swearing like a sailor as he hastily scrambled to his feet and wrenched the stall door open, only to find himself face to face with Maes Hughes. Automatically, Ethan snapped into a salute as he faced the older man with a neutral expression on his face, even though on the inside he was practically shitting his pants. Hughes frowned slightly as he indicated for the young man to drop the salute before he fixed him with a piercing look.

"Who are you really, Eric? I find it very odd that you just showed up out of the blue and enlisted a week ago, and without a scrap of identification," the Lt. Colonel remarked pointedly, and was rewarded with Ethan going a very nasty shade of white. "Not to mention the fact that your uniform is probably the one that's missing from the supply room, since I was unable to find any record of you actually receiving and signing out a uniform."

"Sir, when I went to get my uniform, no one was there," Ethan said nervously, lying through his teeth. "When I turned in my enlistment form, one of the other soldiers told me that if I didn't have my uniform on when I came in the next day I'd have my ass thrown in the brig for insubordination. I saw that no one was there… and well, I panicked. Not to mention that I didn't know I had to put down that I had received a uniform."

"Bullshit," Hughes stated simply with a frown, his eyes narrowed. "Eric, you've just enlisted, and yet you move like a man who's actually _seen_ combat. There is no way that you're just a green recruit. So tell me now, where are you **really** from?"

The twenty-year old drew in a deep breath as he fixed the older man in front of him with a steely look, silently praying to any merciful divine being that might happen to be in the area that he would be able to keep his nerves in check.

"I'm from the outskirts of East City, Lieutenant Colonel, sir," he said seriously. Hughes merely arched an eyebrow before he spoke.

"Then what's the Amestris national anthem?" he asked. Ethan felt his heart drop straight down into the bottom of his shoes as a roaring sound filled his ears.

"W-what?" he managed to ask faintly, and silently cursed himself for the obvious stutter in his voice. "I can't… sing, sir. I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket if I tried."

"Then just say the words."

"I-I've forgotten them, sir."

Hughes looked slightly amused as he gave the younger man a thoughtful look before he pulled a familiar thin plastic card out of his pocket and held it up in the air in plain sight in between his index and middle finger. Ethan felt his nausea increase tenfold as he stared accusingly at the small plastic card, knowing exactly where the older man had gotten it and cursing himself for not being smart enough to keep his wallet on him.

"So, if you're an Amestranian citizen, then why would this-" Hughes paused for a second to flip the card around so he could read the small black lettering printed on it. "-'Arizona Driver's License' be in your wallet? That wasn't very bright of you, leaving something this incriminating in plain sight."

The Private stared speechless at the older man as he continued, his mouth hanging open slightly.

"And according to this little card here, your name is actually Ethan Thomas. Not very creative at creating an alias, are you, kid?"

"It's just something that some friends of mine cooked up as prank before I left to enlist," the twenty-year old offered weakly. "It's not supposed to mean anything."

Hughes made a small noise of disbelief as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin metal chain with two dog tags dangling from it, holding it in the same hand as Ethan's driver's license as he gave the younger man a skeptical look.

"Then what about these?" he asked quietly, his expression grim. "According to these dog tags, you're Private Ethan Alexander Thomas of the United States Army. You know, for a greenhorn soldier, these sure do look pretty beat up. So, how much combat experience have you actually had?"

"Shut up," the young man growled as he clenched his fists, fear coursing through him as he stared angrily at the Lt. Colonel. The older man ignored him as he proceeded to talk, knowing that he was getting underneath Ethan's skin.

"I've never heard of the United States before," Hughes mused thoughtfully as he cast a sideways glance at the shaking Private. "It must be a pretty small country if they're willing to send some inexperienced kid into the military of another country as a spy. I hate to tell you this, Ethan, but you've gotten yourself into some serious trouble for this little stunt. Not to mention that spying is punishable by death."

"Shut up!!" Ethan snapped as he shook himself out of his shocked stupor and reached for his gun, knowing that he was screwed beyond belief. Before he could even remove the firearm from the holster however, Hughes had a razor-sharp throwing knife positioned right above his jugular.

"Don't even think about it," he warned seriously. "I've been around a lot longer than you have, kid, and I've seen war. Don't think that I'm a pushover just because I have a desk job."

"I've seen war too," Ethan ground out as he fixed the older man in front of him with a venomous glare. "I've watched some of my best friends in my unit die because they got careless, or just plain unlucky. I saw my C.O. get blasted into a bloody red pulp by an incoming mortar, and I damn near died from an IED!" The twenty-year old frowned reflectively as he moved his hand away from his holster. "Actually, I still don't know how the hell I survived that one. I thought I was dead until I woke up in-" Ethan's eyes widened as he immediately snapped his mouth shut, knowing instinctively that he had said too much.

"Until you woke up where?" Hughes asked carefully as he looked at the younger man, who was currently a very nasty shade of white, but had a determined look on his face. The Lieutenant Colonel gave a sigh as he slowly removed his throwing knife from Ethan's throat and returned it to the sheath with the others at the back of his belt.

"You know what, I think I'm going to take a few risks here and give you a chance," the Investigations officer said casually as he looked over at Ethan, who had a bewildered look on his face. "Why don't I go and tell Roy that I'm going to borrow you for a couple hours to help me with sorting some misplaced records, and we can go someplace private and talk for a bit. How does that sound to you, kid?"

"Fine, I guess," the younger man admitted reluctantly as he ran a hand nervously through his sandy bangs. Immediately, Hughes was all smiles as he clapped Ethan hard on the back, almost sending the Private face-first into the floor.

"Good man! When we get there I'll show you some of the cutest pictures of my baby girl!!"

'_I think I'd rather face a firing squad first.'_

--

Annora frowned thoughtfully as she snapped her laptop open and booted it up, her brown eyes moving over towards where Ed was slouched down in a wooden chair at the small table in their sleeper room with Al, playing some kind of card game. Ever since her friend had shown up and apologized for his earlier actions, he had been oddly quiet.

The sixteen-year old gave a small sigh and a mental shrug as she opted to remember the three-word phrase that had always served her well in explaining the strange actions of the opposite gender, even with her dad and brother: Boys are weird.

If she kept this in mind, life would be a lot easier.

A sudden scuffle broke out over at the small table as Al caught Ed cheating at cards using alchemy, resulting in Annora rolling her eyes as she opened up her internet page. She was just about to log in and check her e-mail, only for her web-cam to send a notice that Katie was trying to talk to her. With a long-suffering sigh, the teenager plugged in her headphones and opened her web-cam, only to arch an eyebrow when she caught sight of who was with her friend.

"Alice?" she asked curiously as she shifted into a more comfortable position with her back against the wall on the top bunk and placed her computer in her lap. The blonde grinned evilly at her as she nodded, while Katie proceeded to squirm about excitedly in her seat.

"So, Annora, where are you?" Katie burst out. "Where are Ed and Al?"

"Right now, I'm on a train," the sixteen-year old said slowly, giving Katie a suspicious look as she eyeballed Alice nervously. The other girl was in her history class, and sat a few seats away from Katie, but other than that Annora didn't really know her. Except for the fact that she was a hardcore anime fan just like Katie, which was why the two of them got along so well.

"Katie said that you were in Amestris," Alice said suddenly, her ice-blue eyes shining with barely hidden excitement as she looked into the camera. "She told me that you were traveling with Edward and Alphonse Elric. Is that true?"

"No," Annora said bluntly as she shot her friend an extremely dirty look, a frown making its way across her face. "I'm in Colorado with some relatives right now, and we're taking the train to Silverton. I don't know what Katie told you Alice, but it's probably not true."

"What's going on?" Ed asked suddenly, and Annora wrenched off her headphones as she looked down at the blonde alchemist.

"Katie's on my web-cam again, and this time she brought a friend," she hissed urgently as she covered up her camera lens with her free hand. "As far as I know, she's just about as nutty as Katie is, so do me a favor and keep quiet for a bit while I try to distract them."

Ed paled slightly before he returned to his card game, a distinctly sour look on his face. "Great, another one."

Annora gave a weary sigh as she put her headphones on again and uncovered her camera, giving Katie a cheesy smile as she made a show of looking apologetic. "Sorry about that, one of my cousins was being a pest."

"Annora, I already told Alice where you are, so there's no need to pretend," Katie grumbled darkly as she frowned at her friend. "Just let us talk to Ed and Al for a little bit, okay? That's all we want to do."

The sixteen-year old bristled slightly at the demanding tone in her friend's voice, and her chocolate eyes hardened as she fixed Katie with a withering glare.

"Katie, this may just be nothing more than a damn game for you, but this is **real** for me," she growled, a threatening edge lacing her voice that neither of the two other girls had ever heard before. "Since I found myself here, I've been strangled, shot at, almost blown up, wrenched, thrown, kidnapped, shot at some more, put into a **coma**, _woke up_ from said coma, and found out that someone I've looked up to my entire life was killed. I'm lucky that I haven't _**died**_ yet. So, unless you want me to go absolutely _ballistic_ on you, look at things from my perspective for a few seconds and not treat me like I'm just some sort of liaison for you two to go and obsess about a couple of teenage boys who can do alchemy."

There was dead silence from Katie and Alice for several seconds before the blonde girl finally ventured to ask a question. "Who died?"

"My older brother. He was killed by an IED over in Iraq."

"WHAT?!" Katie yelped incredulously as she immediately shoved Alice aside, her greenish-gold eyes wide in disbelief. "Ethan **DIED**?! When did this happen?!"

"A little over a week ago… well, at least here," Annora said quietly as she looked away from the camera, tears stinging unwillingly at the corners of her eyes. "I don't know how long it's been over there since I've left, but I've been in Amestris for a little over two months. One thing that I've noticed is that time seems to be a little screwy between here and Flagstaff."

Katie gaped at Annora uncomprehendingly, her odd-colored eyes wide before her expression softened into one of sympathy. "Oh God, Annora… I'm so sorry. Do… do your parents know yet?"

"I don't know," the sixteen-year old admitted reluctantly as she let out a sigh. "I think after this I'm going to contact one of Ethan's unit members… he's the one who told me what happened… and see what else I can find out. I know that I need to find a way home before they ship a mostly empty coffin to us… I can't put my parents through the pain of losing both of their children all at once. They're going to need me there… I just know it."

"How are you holding up?" Katie asked curiously as she looked her friend right in the eye, a slight frown hanging about her lips. "I know that Ed isn't exactly the master of being touchy-feely. Actually, I think he's just an expert at being painfully blunt and insensitive when it comes to other people's feelings. I mean, he told Rose to just get up and move-"

"Katie, I'm fine," Annora said as she rolled her eyes, interrupting her friend in mid-rant. "He and Al had to smack some sense into me a few days after I found out about Ethan because I was moping around, but I needed it, so it wasn't a problem."

"Edward Elric actually hit you?" Alice asked incredulously in a tone that signified that if such a thing were to happen to her she would never wash that part of her body ever again. Annora stared at the other girl as though she had taken leave of her senses as she pulled a face.

"Uh, no. He just talked to me. Al was the one who really took the time to make sure that I understood that all I was doing was hurting myself."

"He talked to you?"

"Duh. How else do you tell someone to pull their head out of their ass?"

"You know, just hearing your half of the conversation is creepy as hell," Ed remarked sardonically as he cast a glance over his shoulder, a golden eyebrow arched slightly. "I don't even want to know what your friend is saying."

"Its better that way, trust me."

Alice frowned at the fact that she was being ignored, and opened her mouth to say something before Katie beat her to the punch.

"Hey Annora, do you like Ed? Have you kissed him yet?" the bespectacled girl asked enthusiastically, and her friend froze before she stared at her, her jaw hanging open slightly in wordless disbelief. Alice just looked like Katie had spoken the worst of blasphemies.

"…"

"Am I right?! I **am** right, aren't I?!" Katie demanded triumphantly, and Annora finally regained the power of coherent thought as she directed a piercing glare at her friend.

"I was struck speechless at the sheer stupidity of what you just said," she growled as she wrinkled her nose at the thought. "Jesus Katie, where in the hell do you come up with this stuff? Are you smoking something, like cigaweed, or did you eat some hash brownies? 'Cause either way, you **have** to be high on _something_ to come up with crap like that. Besides, I don't even like him like that."

"Yeah Katie," Alice jumped in as she looked over at the other girl as she pulled a piece of paper with a picture printed on it from her binder and held it up so that it filled up the entire computer screen. "There's no way that Ed would kiss _her_. This is what he likes."

It took Annora a few seconds for her brain to register just what exactly she was looking at before she instinctively jerked back away from her computer screen in stunned horror, her chocolate eyes wide in disbelief.

"Oh my GOD!!" she yelped as she hastily yanked her headphones out of the jack and shoved her laptop off of her crossed legs, scooting as far away as she could possibly get from the evil image that was now seared into her brain. Envy and Ed were… ewwww; all she knew was that boys were **not** supposed to kiss like that.

"Annora, what's wrong?" Ed asked as he poked his head up over the side of the top bunk and looked at the shaking teenager in obvious concern. "What's going on?"

Immediately the picture was removed from the camera lens and Alice's panicked expression became evident as she shook her head, mouthing 'no' frantically. The sixteen-year old ignored her as she managed to stammer out a few words.

"Envy… kissing…" she said weakly, and Ed arched an eyebrow at this.

"What the hell? Who was he kissing… and what does this have to do with anything?" he asked

"I'm… not at liberty to say," she muttered faintly, and then flinched as she tried to force what she had just seen out of her mind. At Ed's skeptical look, she finally gave a roundabout answer. "You remember that weird website that we found that one time, the one that we both vowed we would never visit again? Alice just showed me the same kind of stuff that we found on there… only it was a picture."

Dead silence.

"_**What?!**_"

"Uhh… what would you do?"

"Well, first off, I'd talk to your 'friend'," Ed growled dangerously as a murderous gleam entered his golden eyes before he added an afterthought. "With a baseball bat."

"That sounds like a good idea," Annora agreed weakly before she let out and anguished moan and buried her head in her hands. "Oh god, I'm never going to get that image out of my head now. I'm gonna have nightmares about that for the remainder of my life."

"Uh… I think we should go now," Katie said suddenly before she shut off her web-cam. "Bye!!"

"Coward," Ed grumbled, but didn't complain as Annora shut off her own camera before shutting down her laptop. The teenager frowned thoughtfully as she put her computer back in its carrying case and lowered it down to the floor of the sleeper by its black shoulder strap.

"You know what, I'm just going to go to bed and pray that I don't wake up screaming at some point in the middle of the night," she pointed out wryly. "I'll wait until tomorrow to talk to Ethan's friend."

"That's probably a good idea," Ed agreed before he gave his friend a thoughtful look, fully aware of the fact that Al was ignoring him as punishment for him cheating at cards. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah. 'Night you guys, see ya in the morning."

Ed watched as the taller girl pulled the covers over her and closed her eyes, obviously intending on falling asleep fully clothed. He waited a few minutes for Annora to fall asleep before he kicked off his boots and did the same thing on the bottom bunk, turning off the light as he did so.

As the Fullmetal Alchemist lay there in the dark, staring up at the underside of the top bunk, he couldn't help but wonder who Annora had been talking about when she had said that she didn't like him that way.

--

"So, let me get this straight. You're a Private in the army for a large country called the United States, and you were fighting in a country called Iraq against terrorists, at least up until over a week ago," Hughes said seriously as he fixed Ethan with a stern look, and the younger man nodded as he gripped the mug of coffee he held in his hands firmly before he took another gulp. "The last thing that you remember before you were hit by an IED was walking out of the communications tent after talking to your younger sister, who is still stateside. Then, after that, you woke up in the Records room here with absolutely no idea as to how you got there. Is that about it?"

"Yes sir," the twenty-year old agreed as he looked up at the Lt. Colonel before he gave a weary shrug. "I don't expect you to believe me, sir, since I'm having a hard time believing it myself, but that's what happened. I swear on my life that I'm telling the truth."

Hughes let out a long-suffering sigh as he slumped down in his chair and took off his glasses before he slowly massaged the bridge of his nose, obviously having the beginnings of a headache. "I believe you, Ethan. Your story is just too damn crazy to not be real, no matter what way I look at it."

"Thank god," the younger man sighed in relief as he set his mug down on Hughes's desk. "You have no idea what it's been like, lying to everyone for the past week. At first, I enlisted here so I wouldn't draw attention and I could find out where the hell I was. After a few days here, and looking at all of the maps I could get my hands on of Amestris and all of the surrounding countries, I realized that none of these places even **looked** like any of the countries I know of, much less had any similar names."

"I'm just going to pretend that you never said that first part," the Lt. Colonel remarked pointedly, causing Ethan to flush slightly, before he continued. "You know, your story isn't the first one like this that I've heard, surprisingly. A little over two months ago, Roy brought in a girl who claimed to be from the United States as well. When we questioned her to see if we could get any information about her family so we could contact her parents, she said that she had an older brother in the military. I was the one who scoured the records for him, but there was no evidence that he even existed."

"What was her brother's name?"

"I don't remember. I'll have to pull up the file from when she was brought in."

"Where is she?" Ethan asked as he jerked upright in his seat, his hazel eyes wide with excitement. "If I can talk to her, maybe she can give me some idea as to how both of us got here and-"

"Whoa, slow down there," Hughes told the younger man as he held up a hand. "The thing is she's not even in Central right now. The Fullmetal Alchemist, one of our State Alchemists, and his younger brother were assigned to watch her until we could figure out how to get in touch with her parents, and he's currently somewhere in the East at the moment. Judging from your story though, I don't think that's exactly possible."

Ethan gave a sigh as he leaned back with a slight grin on his face. "So, when will this Fullmetal person be back?"

"I don't know. He just kind of wanders all over the place… and sometimes trouble seems to follow him. So, it could take a while before he actually shows up in Central again."

The Private pulled a face at this piece of information before he gave an annoyed groan and buried his head in his hands. "No, of course it wouldn't be that easy."

Hughes patiently waited until the younger man was paying attention to him once again before he proceeded with their conversation. "When you talked with your sister, did you talk about anything specific? You were awfully vague when you mentioned your conversation with her."

Ethan frowned thoughtfully as he stared at the dark brown depths of his coffee, his forehead furrowing in confusion. After a few seconds of silence, the twenty-year old made a low noise of obvious frustration before he reached up and began to massage his temples, apparently trying not to lose his temper.

"God damn it!" he growled, not noticing Hughes's curious look. "I don't remember!"

"What?"

"I don't remember!" the younger man snapped as he looked up at the Lt. Colonel, barely restrained panic evident in his eyes. "All I remember was that I was supposed to talk to her… but I don't think that I did. I know that one of my friends came up to me after I got off with her, and mentioned something that I looked up on the Internet… but I don't remember what that was either."

"The… Internet?" Hughes said slowly, testing out the unfamiliar word. "What in the world is that?"

"It's something that anyone can use to access information where I come from," Ethan said automatically as he let out an annoyed sigh. "But that's not the point. Why the hell can't I remember my conversation with my sister?"

The Investigations officer laced his fingers together thoughtfully in front of his mouth and stared at the younger man in front of him, giving him a scrutinizing look with his odd-colored eyes.

"What's your sister's name?" he asked suddenly, and Ethan frowned momentarily before a horrified expression came over his face, and he immediately went ashen gray. Immediately, Hughes straightened up and fixed the Private with a concerned look, ready to rush over in case he passed out. "Ethan, what's wrong?"

"My sister…" the twenty-year old said hoarsely as he rocked back in his chair, hazel eyes wide in disbelief. "I don't remember my own sister. I know that I have one and that she's younger than me, but I don't know how old she is… what she looks like or anything like that. Oh god, I've forgotten who she is!"

Sensing that Ethan was about to have an extreme emotional meltdown, the Lieutenant Colonel went over to the younger man and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing him on the shoulder to bring him out of his impending hysteria.

"Hey, just calm down for a few moments," he said encouragingly. "Your memory loss is probably only temporary. The reason you've forgotten your sister is probably because you were thinking about her when that IED hit, and your mind automatically blocked out everything concerning her just as a survival trick."

"Really?" the Private asked as he looked up at Hughes, who gave him a reassuring smile in response.

"Are you kidding? I've known people who've forgotten their own wives because of some of the experiences that they had in battle. Don't be too hard on yourself, and it will all come back eventually."

"But… that was over a week ago. Why am I just realizing this now?"

"Probably because you haven't thought about what happened very much since you woke up in Amestris," the older man pointed out seriously before he gave a weary sigh. "All the same though, we should probably look into getting you an official physical sometime soon just to make sure that you don't have any problems that might be causing this."

"Great, doctors," Ethan grumbled moodily as he ran a hand through his messy hair, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I **hate** doctors."

"I don't know anybody who likes them," Hughes said with a faint grin. "Although I have to admit, watching Roy with his last physical was absolutely hilarious."

"Why was that?"

"Because one of the doctors wanted to give him a colonoscopy… and Roy threatened to incinerate him if he even tried."

Ethan blinked at this little bit of information before he snickered slightly, his mind creating some very interesting images of his superior threatening a doctor with a flamethrower. He immediately sobered up though as another thought hit him, and a slight frown made its way across his face as he reached into his wallet and pulled out a photograph, placing it down on the table and pointing at it.

"Lieutenant Colonel, there's only one thing left that I want to ask about," he said seriously, drawing Hughes's attention to the picture. "Does anything look off to you in this photograph?"

Hughes arched an eyebrow at the Private's odd comment, but picked up the photo nonetheless. Immediately, he noticed a major flaw at what he was looking at. The young man in the picture was definitely Ethan, garbed in the full field military gear of the American Army that he served in, but with several major differences. The man had narrower eyes, and there was just this general sense of… offness in the picture. Hughes almost didn't know how to describe it, except for everything looking more… detailed and fuller, in some strange way.

"What exactly is this?" he asked as he handed the picture back to Ethan, who returned it to a pocket in his wallet. "That didn't look like any of the pictures I've seen here."

"This was a picture taken of me my first day in Iraq," the twenty-year old said quietly, a strange look in his hazel eyes as he frowned reflectively. "One of the things that I noticed when I looked into a mirror for the first time after I got here was that I'd… changed. I don't quite know how to describe it, only that it's unnerving. But that's how I looked before I came to Amestris."

"Unnerving is definitely the word for this," Hughes commented wryly. "I've never seen or heard of anything like this in my entire life."

"Join the club," Ethan muttered bitterly as he shook his head. "Things just seem to keep getting weirder and weirder. I just want to know what the hell is going on, but all I seem to do is find more questions than answers."

"We all have times like that," the Lt. Colonel pointed out as he stepped away from the younger man and stretched his arms over his head before looking over at the clock on his wall. "We really need to wrap this up though, because Roy will probably want you back sometime soon, and we have uniform registration paperwork that we need to get out of the way for you before anything else is done."

The Private wrinkled his nose in disgust as he stood up and followed Hughes towards his office door. "Great, more useless crap that needs my signature. If this is anything like when I enlisted and received my uniform, there will probably be about five or six papers that I need to sign."

"Try about four" Hughes quipped with a grin. "Don't worry though, it won't take that long since all I'll need you to do is sign the forms and I'll put last week's date on them before I file them in the appropriate places. We may need to get you an overcoat and a hat from the storeroom though, since you probably didn't think to grab one of those, did you?"

"No," Ethan muttered sourly. "I was kind of in a hurry."

"That's what I thought."

"… Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to tell Colonel Mustang… the truth about me I mean?" the twenty-year old asked nervously, suddenly anxious for whatever reply he might receive. Hughes looked thoughtful for a few moments before he let out a reluctant sigh, a slight frown on his face.

"For now… I don't think so," the Lt. Colonel said as he ran a hand through his black hair. "Until we can get things figured out, I don't think that Roy really needs to know about this. If something happens though, I will tell him."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel, sir."

"Don't mention in it… Eric."

--

I want to thank the wonderful **agent000** for helping me with this chapter, because I had a really hard time with figuring out how this chapter was going to work out, and she let me bounce some ideas off of her. Thank you so very much!!

For all of you who have watched the anime and the movie, you might recognize somewhat what happened to Ethan. The Gate requires some form of a toll for passing through it, and the toll it took from Ethan was his memories of Annora, since she was probably the person he cherished the most. Kind of like how it took Al's memories from the past five years when he was stuck inside the suit of armor and traveling all over Amestris with Ed. The thing is with Ethan though is that he knows that he has a younger sister, and has vague memories of interacting with her, but remembers nothing else about her, including what she looks like.

And thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers, who make my day with some of the very interesting and funny things that they come up with when they're telling me what they think of my stuff.

I'm sorry, but I won't be doing any review responses for this chapter, since it's currently one in the morning where I'm at right now, and I'm dead tired. I'll do them next chapter though, I promise.

**Ed:** Yeah right. You're just a bum.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** (Has Sano gag Ed) Shut up, otherwise I'll throw you to my dog.

For those of you who asked, Ed is the President of the 'I hate Hitokiri' club, Mustang is the Vice-President, and Envy is a new club member. Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha are both prominent members who both joined up after I stared my Naruto story 'Lost on the Road of Life'.

Anyways, until the next chapter!

Sayonara

Wandering Hitokiri


	20. Chapter Nineteen: Waking Horrors

"What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And what if, when you awoke, you had that flower in your hand?" – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

**Chapter Nineteen:**

**Waking Horrors**

Out of all the things that he could have possibly expected walking into work the next day, Ethan would never have guessed that he would find Havoc sitting forlornly at his desk, staring at a letter that he held in his hands with an expression of absolute agony on his face, with Falman and Breda clustered around him.

"Hey, Havoc, what's up?" he asked curiously as he set his brown canvas satchel down by his own desk. "You look like someone told you that your dog died."

"It's worse than that," the Second Lieutenant muttered forlornly, his trademark cigarette drooping down. Ethan arched a sandy eyebrow in response before he strolled over to the older man and peered over his shoulder at the letter that he held limply in his hands, quickly scanning the first few lines. After a few moments, the twenty-year old hissed a curse under his breath and took a step back, a disgusted frown on his face as his hazel eyes narrowed slightly.

"Your girlfriend dumped you?" he muttered incredulously before he gave an annoyed groan and shook his head. "She dumped you by sending you a letter? That's harsh, man. Not to mention rude as hell."

"Why though?!" the chain-smoker wailed as he crumpled the letter up in his hands before throwing it down on the ground in obvious frustration. "I thought that Hannah and I had something going on!!"

"Obviously she had other ideas," the Private pointed out dryly as he stooped down and retrieved the mangled note, smoothing it out as best as he could as he gave it a cursory glance. "From what she said here, she's seeing another guy."

"That's not unusual," Breda quipped with a roll of his eyes. "Havoc can never keep a girl, no matter how hard he tries."

"Even when Major Armstrong tried to set him up with his younger sister, he screwed that one up royally," Falman added, causing Havoc to cringe at the memory, while Ethan just looked at the two older officers, his expression one of extreme confusion.

"And who the heck is Major Armstrong?"

"He's one of the State Alchemists here. If you ever see him, run."

"Why?"

"It's safer that you don't know. Anyways, it's common knowledge that Havoc just can't get a girl."

"Shut up, you jerks!!" Havoc raged as he threw a paperweight at Breda, who barely managed to dodge the hastily flung projectile. Ethan watched the ensuing violence with an arched eyebrow before he let out a sigh.

"You know, there is a way of getting back at her for this," he pointed out calmly, causing the shouting to immediately grind to a halt as all three of them men looked at him incredulously.

"What?" Falman asked hesitantly, and the twenty-year old gave the older soldiers a knowing smirk as he held the wrinkled letter up in the air like a beacon.

"There's a really good way of getting back at people who go out of their way to be cruel when they dump you," Ethan said as he gave Havoc an impish grin, his hazel eyes twinkling with mischief. "What you do is you gather up a bunch of pictures, of people's sisters, their girlfriends, wives and such, and you send them all to her in a big envelope, with her own picture mixed up inside with the rest. You also include a letter that says 'I honestly don't remember who the hell you are, so just take your picture out and send the rest back to me'. And make sure that you get the pictures, or at least copies of them, from people here that you actually work with."

Havoc straightened up and blinked as he looked at Ethan, while Falman and Breda just gaped incredulously at him.

"How the heck did you come up with that?" the Second Lieutenant asked slowly, and the younger man gave a wry chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, a friend of mine got dumped by mail by his girlfriend, and he's the one who came up with the idea as a way to get back at her," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "Her response was… very entertaining. It turned out that she had been cheating on him too, so he got double the payback out of it."

"… You're evil."

"Havoc, you have no idea."

Falman and Breda both looked at each other with raised eyebrows before the chunky redhead grinned knowingly and clapped Ethan hard on the back, almost knocking the younger man flat on his face.

"We'll help," he said proudly as he fixed the twenty-year old with an appraising look. "You know, Eric, you're not half bad."

"Thanks," the Private managed to gasp as he straightened up, the wind knocked clean out of him. Falman fixed the three younger men with his usual stern look before a slight smile twitched about his lips.

"I'll go start asking around for pictures from some of the people in the Investigations area," he said. "Breda, you get to ask Armstrong for a picture of his sister."

"WHAT?!"

Unfortunately for Breda, the Warrant Officer had pulled a disappearing act the moment he had made his statement, vanishing around the corner out into the main hallway. Breda glared at the doorway for several seconds before he let out a defeated sigh and strode out, muttering curses and grumbling about being sparkled to death.

Ethan and Havoc stood in the now-empty office area before the older man reached over and ruffled the Private's already messy sandy hair affectionately. Ethan instinctively jerked his head away from the Second Lieutenant's hand and frowned, arching an eyebrow as he ran a hand over his rumpled hair.

"You're a good kid, Eric," the chain-smoker said with a smile, gratitude evident in his blue eyes. "Thanks for your help."

"No problem," the twenty-year old responded with a shrug before he frowned. "I've been dumped before, and it wasn't fun. My last girlfriend was… really nasty when I dumped her, before I left my hometown. She had been cheating on me behind my back, and when I confronted her about it she got really defensive." Ethan paused for a moment as he concentrated on the memory before something came back to him. "My little sister never really liked her. She told me that she was nothing more than a two-faced tramp, and that she would hurt me somehow. When my sister found out about my girlfriend, she didn't say 'I told you so', even though she had every right to. She just told me that Beth hadn't been good enough for me, and then prank-called her at two in the morning as payback for 'hurting her brother'."

Havoc chuckled heartily at this, a grin creeping across his face. "So, what was the prank call about?"

"Something about a horde of flying monkeys peppering her house with rotten eggs and whipping cream, I think. I never did quite get the details on that one."

"… How old is your sister?"

Ethan frowned at this as he came to a halt, frantically trying to dig up anything on the younger sibling that he knew he had, but couldn't remember anything about.

"I'm not quite sure," he admitted finally. "It's been a while since the last time I saw her."

"Is she old enough for you to introduce her to me?" Havoc prodded with a goofy grin, and the Private scowled as he fixed the older man with an incredibly dirty look.

"No way in hell," he growled, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "She's a teenager."

The chain-smoker fell silent and gave a nervous laugh while Ethan shook his head in annoyance. After a few moments of heavy silence, the two men left the office area and headed towards the barracks to ask around for pictures.

--

"Hey Ed, what happened to your arm?"

Ed flinched as he hurriedly yanked on his black jacket, and then pulled on his red trench coat over that, effectively hiding his mangled automail.

"Nothing," he muttered evasively. Annora arched a disbelieving eyebrow at this as she gave him a skeptical look in response, pausing momentarily from repacking her backpack so they could leave the train right when they got to Resembool.

"Ed, it looks like it got stepped on by a rabid elephant. How the hell could that be 'nothing'?" she asked as she looked at her friend. The teenage alchemist just gave an annoyed snort as he turned away from her and looked out the window, giving Annora cause to roll her eyes as she gently slid the paperback book that was in her hands into one of the interior pockets of her backpack.

"Winry's going to kill you for busting up her automail again," the sixteen-year old pointed out quietly. "She just replaced your leg like what, three weeks ago?"

"Annora, I know," Ed grumbled. "Believe me, it's not like I was trying to break my automail on purpose. Fighting with Greed just completely trashed it, but amazingly enough it still works."

"Yeah, you'd better hope so if you want to have a chance in hell of surviving Winry. She's probably going to wrench your ass into a bloody pulp."

"Gee, thanks, I feel so much better about seeing her today now."

"I'm glad that I could help."

The State Alchemist frowned as he watched Annora return to her packing, slipping her headphones over her head and turning on her MP3 player as she did so. She looked so happy and content today, a far cry from last week when she had been sunk deep in depression.

"You're awfully upbeat today," Ed remarked suddenly, and mentally berated himself for saying something so stupid out loud. The sixteen-year old looked over at him and grinned before she slid her spare set of clothing into her bag and zipped it closed.

"Hey, I'm going to be able to see Twilight again," Annora pointed out before a wistful expression crossed her face. "Why shouldn't I be happy?"

"It's a dog," the boy said as a way of explanation as he arched a golden eyebrow. "I don't see what's so great about it."

"Well I **like** dogs," the teenager stated firmly as she fixed her friend with a scrutinizing look. "They give you unconditional love, they're always there, and all you have to do to make them happy is feed them and take good care of them. In short, dogs are awesome!!"

"You forgot the part where they pee all over the place and shred the trash," Ed muttered sarcastically as he crossed his arms over his chest. Annora stared at him with a deadpan expression for a few seconds before she responded.

"They don't do that if you train them properly," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Seriously Ed, don't you know anything?"

"Hey, I know a lot of things!! I became a State Alchemist at twelve for a good a reason!" the teenage boy snapped.

"Yeah, you've got a mind like a steel trap," Annora muttered dryly as she smirked at the smaller boy. "Rusty and illegal in thirty-seven states."

"Hey!!"

At that moment Al came into the small sleeper room with two breakfast rolls in his hands, only to find Annora scrambling up onto the top bunk in an attempt to get away from Ed's wrath.

"Brother, what are you doing?!" he scolded as he stuck out his foot and tripped his older sibling. The teenage alchemist shot a glare over his shoulder at the younger Elric as he got to his feet.

"She said that I had a mind like a steel trap!!" he protested angrily, jabbing a white-gloved finger accusingly at Annora. Alphonse stared at his older brother like he had lost his mind before he finally trusted himself to speak.

"Isn't that a compliment, Brother?"

"Not when she says it!!"

"I told him that his mind was rusty and illegal in thirty-seven states, Al," Annora piped up with a grin, an impish twinkle in her chocolate eyes. "It's a joke that I used to use a lot, especially with Ethan."

The possessed suit of armor looked at the girl for a few moments before he started to chuckle, much to Ed's dismay.

"It's not funny!!" Ed growled, and Annora joined in with Al as she started laughing uproariously. It took a few minutes for the two to settle down, and by then Ed had turned a very interesting shade of red.

"That was good one, Annora," Al said as he let out a sigh. The sixteen-year old nodded in agreement just as Ed completely lost it.

"You two are against me!! But you won't get me!! I know where you sleep!!" he shouted threateningly before he snatched up his suitcase and exited the sleeper, slamming the door shut behind him. A deafening silence settled over the room as Annora and Alphonse both looked over at each other, the former with a look of extreme unease on her face.

"… Okay, I'm definitely booby-trapping my door tonight," she muttered nervously. Al nodded in agreement as he helped the older girl gather up her bags. For some reason he had a feeling that he was going to staying next to the door of the room that he and Ed usually stayed in that night.

--

To say that Winry was less than pleased when she saw the mangled metal limb that had once been one of her prized automail creations was a vast understatement. The blonde girl had proceeded to beat Ed into a bloody pulp with her wrench out in the front yard the moment she caught sight of the damaged metal, right in front of Al and Annora.

"Al… should we run?" the sixteen-year old asked nervously as she eyeballed the carnage in front of her. The younger Elric shook his head as he and Annora slowly started to creep away from the act of homicide that was taking place in front of them.

"No, not unless we want Winry to come after us too," Al muttered, even though his entire armored body was rattling audibly in fear.

"You know what, I'm going inside to say hi to Granny Pinako and Twilight," Annora said before she bolted towards the relative safety of the house. "You can stay out here if you want, but I'm going inside where it's **sane**."

The fifteen-year old only hesitated for a few seconds as Winry slowly turned around to face him, blood dripping ominously off of her torque wrench, before he too dashed off into the Rockbell home, babbling something about wanting to talk to his friend's grandmother. When he entered the living room, he found Annora crouched down in front of the black and white puppy that she had rescued almost a month before, a happy smile on her face as she enthusiastically rubbed the dog's white stomach, causing one of the canine's back legs to motor away in midair.

"Someone's happy to see you," Al said knowingly, and the teenager stopped scratching Twilight's belly as she looked over her shoulder at him and arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she's my dog," Annora stated matter-of-factly right before she was tackled by the Collie puppy. The girl immediately threw her arms up to shield her face as Twilight jumped up onto her chest and tried her best to giver the teen's face a bath.

"Gah, I'm being licked by a **dog**!!" the sixteen-year old shouted in mock horror while Al tried his best not to dissolve into laughter. The two teens didn't notice Ed drag himself into the room behind them until they both sensed an ominous presence behind them.

"Some brother you are, Al," the Fullmetal Alchemist said coolly as he gazed at the two with narrowed golden eyes. "Leaving me behind like that. You and Annora are cowards."

"Says the idiot who pissed off Winry," Annora retorted with a grimace as she gave her friend a scrutinizing look, taking in all of the bruises on the boy's body. "You're nuts if you think that I'd stick around when she's in a mood like that."

"When who's in a mood like what?" Winry asked as she came up behind the two Elrics and their friend, causing all three of them to jump as they spun around to look at her. Annora noticed the evil smirk that crossed Ed's face and immediately jumped in before he could say anything that would get her and Al in trouble.

"Just someone that I know back home," she said with a wave of her hand in an attempt to dismiss the subject. The automail mechanic arched an eyebrow curiously as she regarded the other girl, who gave a slightly nervous laugh in response.

"Oh really?"

"Umm… yeah. Hey Winry, is it okay if I use the room that I stayed in last time?" Annora asked suddenly in a desperate attempt to change the subject before she got creamed with a torque wrench. The blonde looked thoughtful for a few moments before she nodded in consent, and the sixteen-year old immediately grabbed her backpack and laptop case before she headed upstairs.

Ed watched her go for a few seconds before a thought struck him, and a slight frown crossed his face.

"She's probably going to talk to that Morado guy, the one who told her about her brother," he commented quietly as he looked over at Al. The animated suit of armor made a soft 'oh' noise as he looked up in the direction that their friend had gone off in. Winry frowned as she looked in between her two childhood friends, arching an eyebrow at their apparent talking in riddles before she decided to get to the bottom of things.

"Alright you two, what's going on?" she asked sternly, receiving a startled 'eeep!' from both of the brothers as they spun around to look at her with wide eyes. "You're hiding something from me, and I want to know what it is. So spill, now."

Ed and Al looked at each other before the former nodded in agreement. They needed to tell Winry what was going on, at least as far as where Annora's current family issues were concerned.

"We might want to take a seat," Ed said quietly as he flopped down on the couch. "This could take a while…"

--

Annora slowly shed her letterman's jacket as she sank down onto the pale blue comforter covering the bed, her hands shaking slightly with unease as she unzipped her laptop case and removed her computer from its confines.

'_Do I really want to do this?'_ she silently wondered, her chocolate eyes wide as she opened up her laptop before she sat back and stared at the dark screen. _'Do I really want to know if they found anything… whether or not I'm just going to be staring at an empty coffin if I ever get home in time to be at Ethan's funeral?'_

The sixteen-year old took a deep, shuddering breath as she bit her lip and drew on every ounce of courage that she possessed before she reached forward with a shaking hand and hit the power button on her console. As her laptop started to boot up, Annora quietly took the small computer's power cord and inserted it into the port on the back before she plugged the other end into the socket in the wall by her bed.

"Okay, I can do this," she whispered firmly in an attempt to keep her cool as she clicked on her username and then opened up her web cam. "If I don't ask now, I'll never know what happened, and it'll haunt me for the rest of my life."

Having made up her mind, the teenager typed in the username that Ethan had given her and waited for her web cam to connect with the one that Ethan's unit used. After a few moments her camera screen flickered to life, and the dust-streaked face of Private Ben Morado came into view.

"Hey, kid," the Hispanic man said with a wry grin as he leaned back in the chair that he was seated in, reaching up and wiping off some of the grime that covered his face. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine, I guess…" Annora admitted hesitantly as she ran a hand through her hair. "How are you doing?"

Morado pulled a face at her question before he rolled his eyes upwards.

"I think that we should take Iraq and Iran and combine it all into one country and call it 'Irate'. That way all the pissed off people can just live there in one place and get it over with," he grumbled in obvious annoyance. "I am so sick and tired of getting shot at."

"Oh," the sixteen-year old fell silent for a few moments before she forced herself to ask the question that she had been dreading. "Have you found any of Ethan's… remains… yet?"

Ben frowned as he let out a sigh, drumming his fingers nervously along the tabletop as he stared intently at something off to the side of the computer.

"Nothing much really," he finally said, a touch of annoyance evident in his voice. "According to the guy who saw the whole thing, the IED went off right on top of your brother, so it pretty much vaporized anything that might have been left. And what we have found so far has been charred beyond recognition… I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there's not going to much more than some fragments of charred bone in the coffin that your family gets."

Annora flinched at this as she stared at her web cam in disbelief, hot tears prickling at the corners of her eyes while the color slowly drained from her face.

"So he really is gone then…" she whispered hoarsely, sniffling slightly as she reached up to brush away the tears that clouded her vision. Ben nodded silently in agreement as he gave the sixteen-year old a sympathetic look. The Private waited patiently for Annora to stop crying and take a few deep breaths to steady herself before he continued.

"Ethan's remains are going to be shipped out to the states tomorrow," he stated kindly as he tried to give the teenager an encouraging smile. "That way you'll at least be able to say goodbye."

The sixteen-year old nodded distractedly as she reached up and wiped away her tears on the sleeve of her blue long-sleeved shirt.

"Yeah…" she said hesitantly before a confused frown crossed her face and she looked up at Ben. "You said that there was a witness to the explosion, right?"

"Right."

"What did he say happened?"

Morado arched a dark eyebrow questioningly at the younger girl, who stared right back at him with a determined look in her brown eyes. The Private let out an annoyed sigh as he reached back and ran a hand over his short black hair before he trusted himself to answer.

"One of the lieutenants saw the whole thing, but part of his account doesn't exactly make sense," he stated slowly. "He's being treated for shell-shock right now, but what he told us was that Ethan got hit pretty much full-on by the IED."

"Then what part of that doesn't make sense?" Annora asked as she gave the older man a puzzled look. Ben muttered a low curse in Spanish before he finally forced himself to meet the eyes of his friend's little sister.

"Look, if I tell you this, you have to swear that you won't tell a soul, got it?" he said seriously, his dark eyes stern. "I don't want to sound like a superstitious idiot or anything, and my CO thought that the lieutenant was nuts or something because of what he said. The only reason that I even heard what he said was because of the fact that I was one of the first ones on the scene and heard him babbling everything to the CO when they started questioning him."

"I promise that I won't say a word," the sixteen-year old vowed as she held up her right hand. "Just tell me, please."

"The lieutenant… he said that right before the explosion, like a split second before, he saw… something…"

"Like what?"

"He said that he saw… a huge black stone gate of some kind… and that it opened up and all of these black octopus tentacles streamed out before it pulled Ethan into it," Ben said hesitantly as he looked away from the screen, completely missing the look of stunned horror that crossed Annora's face and her sharp gasp. "Personally, I think that he was hallucinating or something, because he keeps raving about how that gateway leads into the afterlife."

"No… not the afterlife…" Annora muttered softly as a frown crossed her face. "It goes somewhere else entirely."

Morado immediately sensed that he had said something inappropriate as he straightened up in his chair and looked over at the teenager, concern evident on his face.

"Look Annora, we found some of his remains," he said gently. "That's proof that he's dead. I'm sorry, but Ethan's gone, and there's nothing that you can do to bring him back, not matter how much you may want to. People see strange things when they have a brush with death. Hell, I saw what I thought were angels once after I almost got blown up by a mortar. I shouldn't have told you that story anyways."

"It's okay," the girl said quietly as she waved off the older man's apology. "Well, I should probably get going."

"Are you going to be okay?"

The teenager hesitated for a few moments before she gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I'm staying with some friends right now," she said finally, a sad smile crossing her pale features. "I'll be fine."

Before Morado could offer any protests, Annora quickly reached over and turned off her laptop. The sixteen-year old sat there for a few moments on her bed as she tried to keep a grip on her emotions before she drew her knees up to her chest and started to cry, sobbing brokenly into the rough denim of her jeans.

"He's gone… oh god, he's really gone…"

She didn't notice the door that had been open a crack for the past few minutes of her conversation gently close without a sound as Winry turned around and headed downstairs, a sad look on her face as she felt a pang of sympathy for the other girl. The young automail mechanic knew all too well what it was like to lose a family member, and how hopeless everything felt when your last little spark of hope was finally crushed.

--

**Three days later**

--

Ed frowned as he crammed his spare set of clothes into his suitcase, slamming the lid down and flipping the metal clips on the top shut to hold it shut firmly. Ever since Annora had talked with Morado she had been slightly detached from everything, even though she had made a very real effort to act as though nothing was wrong.

"Stupid, stubborn girl," the alchemist muttered angrily under his breath as he pulled his gloves on over his hands, silently thanking Winry for her excellent workmanship as he flexed his newly-repaired automail hand before pulling on his jacket. "Why won't she just come out and say what's wrong with her?"

"I don't think she wants to bother us, Brother," Al pointed out as he made a run through of the room to make sure that Ed hadn't missed anything. "Annora's never really been one to just say outright what's bugging her. In a way, she's kind of like you."

Ed gave his younger sibling a dirty look, but didn't say anything due to the fact that Al was right. Not that he'd ever admit it.

"But still…" Ed gave a loud sigh and shook his head, running a hand through his bangs. "I just wish that she'd trust us a little bit."

"Usually Annora's saying that about you," the fifteen-year old remarked knowingly, amusement obvious in his tone. "Now you know how she feels."

"Shut up, Al."

"What? It's true."

"But I still don't need it pointed out to me."

"If I don't do it, who else will? You're only human, Brother."

"I **said** put a sock in it!" Ed growled as he flung his pillow at Al's head, almost knocking the younger boy's helmet off in the process. This soon dissolved into a full-blown scuffle between the two Elrics, which Al ended up winning. Things only ground to a halt when Annora poked her head into the room and stared at the two brothers with an arched eyebrow.

"Winry told me to come up here and make sure that you two are ready," she said in a tone that indicated that she thought the both of them had lost their minds. "Our train to Central leaves in a little less than an hour, and the next one isn't until next week. I'm telling you guys right now that if we miss this, I am **not** gonna be happy."

Having said her piece, the sixteen-year old went down the hall and into her room, where she got her stuff ready to go. Ed muttered a few choice phrases under his breath as he stood up and brushed himself off, while Al got ready to take their lone suitcase down to the front door. Suddenly, the State Alchemist hit on an idea, and looked over at his younger brother.

"Hey Al, do you think that there's something we could do to make Annora… a little less… upset?" he ventured hesitantly, frowning slightly. He hated to admit it, but seeing their friend moping around like she had been of late made him feel like a complete jerk for not doing something. He wasn't about to tell Al this though, seeing as his brother would probably only tease him about liking the girl again.

Alphonse looked pensive for a few moments before something came to him, and he couldn't help but grin inwardly. This was the perfect opportunity to bypass his brother's no-pet policy!

"Well… Annora does seem to be really attached to Twilight…" the animated suit of armor suggested offhandedly. Ed froze as he sensed where the conversation was headed, and gave the fifteen-year old a dirty look.

"Why do I have a feeling that I know where this is going?" he asked dryly, arching a golden eyebrow.

"Brother, Annora really likes Twilight, and it wouldn't be fair to leave Winry with a dog that's not hers!" Al protested earnestly. "She told me that Twilight's never really warmed up to anyone except for Annora! Besides, Annora said that she used to have a dog, so it's not like she doesn't know how to take care of one."

"And the fact that you like dogs just as much as cats has absolutely nothing to do with this," the Fullmetal Alchemist commented sarcastically as he gave his younger brother a stern look. "Al, you know that we-"

"-travel around too much to have a pet. Yes Ed, I know. But this isn't ours; Twi belongs to Annora. It's not fair to her for us to make all these decisions for her, it really isn't. Besides, it will give Annora something else to do besides help us with research."

"What about training?"

"Winry told me that she's already gotten Twi housebroken, and she's working on the chewing."

"What happens when we have to leave town again?"

"Then she can bring Twilight with us, or we can ask Lieutenant Hawkeye to watch her."

Ed scowled as he realized that he was outmatched before he gave an annoyed sigh. "Fine. But you have to help her take care of it, since this was all your idea. Why don't you go downstairs and ask Winry for a leash and some food so we can get ready to go?"

The words had hardly left his mouth before Al left the room, leaving behind a cloud of dust and an irritated alchemist who had just become conscious of the fact that he'd been set up.

"Damn it, I can't believe I just said that," the teenager grumbled as he clapped a hand to his forehead. "I must be going nuts."

Muttering some grievances under his breath, Ed slowly made his way downstairs and towards the living room. Right before his foot left the last step, Al suddenly appeared right in front of him, holding a collared and leashed Twilight in his gauntleted hands.

"Here Brother, could you hold her for a few minutes for me?" the fifteen-year old asked before he shoved the puppy into his older sibling's hands. "I forgot something upstairs."

Ed blinked in surprise as Al rushed upstairs to retrieve whatever he had forgotten before he looked down at the happily panting black and white Collie puppy that he now held in his arms. Twilight squirmed around a bit in his arms before she brought her muzzle up to his face and licked the boy's chin, much to his displeasure.

"Stop it," the alchemist grumbled as he moved the dog away from his face before he looked down at it, and was immediately subjected to the infamous puppy-dog eyes. "You are such a pest. Stop acting so damn cute, 'cause you're not."

Twilight whined a little bit before she started to wiggle around slightly, and Ed rolled his eyes as he headed towards the living room, knowing that Annora was already waiting with her bags by the front door for him and Al to show up.

"You know what, why don't I give you to Annora, since you're **her** dog. That way, **she** can hold you," Ed muttered as he headed towards the front door. Automatically holding the squirming puppy close to his chest, the State Alchemist approached his friend from behind, and arched an eyebrow in surprise when the girl muttered something under her breath about beating him and Al senseless if they missed the train. Deciding that now was as good a time as any, the boy cleared his throat.

Immediately Annora jumped slightly before she spun around to face him, her mouth opened to issue a retort before it died in her throat as she stared incredulously at the dog in his hands. Ed frowned slightly before he held Twilight out towards the taller girl.

"Here," he said simply, indicating that the sixteen-year old should take the dog. A look of pure bewilderment crossed Annora's face as she slowly lifted Twilight from her friend's hands and cradled her in her arms.

"Why…?" she began hesitantly before another thought crossed her mind. "I thought that you guys didn't have pets because you traveled around too much."

"She's your dog," Ed said with a shrug, attempting to act nonchalant. "You should be the one who makes that call."

Annora stared at him for a few seconds before she gently set Twilight down on the polished wooden floor and straightened up before she suddenly wrapped her arms around the Fullmetal Alchemist as she gave the boy a tight hug.

"Thank you," she whispered gratefully, not noticing the intense red blush that flamed across Ed's face as it dawned upon him that a girl other than Winry was **hugging** him. The teenage alchemist made a noise of ascent as he was released, and nervously rubbed the back of his head while trying valiantly to control the blushing on his face.

"Well… uh… yeah… umm… you're welcome," he stuttered. Why the hell was it so hard for him to string words together into a single coherent sentence?

FLASH!

Both teenagers flinched as they automatically threw up their arms to shield their eyes from the blinding flash of light. After a few seconds they looked over towards where the light had come from and saw Al standing right by the stairs with a camera in hand just as an undeveloped photograph slid out from the front. Winry stood right next to him with a knowing smirk on her face, a hand out to retrieve the Polaroid.

"I don't know about you, Al, but I think that was a good shot," the automail mechanic said with a chuckle as she started shaking the developing snapshot. "Definite blackmail material for the two lovebirds."

Annora deadpanned as she looked at the blonde girl, her eyes narrowed almost to the point of being slits.

"Ed, if I kill your brother, would you be mad at me?" she asked darkly, cracking her knuckles in a menacing manner. The State Alchemist scowled as he fixed his younger brother with a glare, his fingers flexing in anticipation of smashing the hapless camera.

"Only if you got to him before I did," he said before an evil smirk crossed his face. "How about you take Winry, and I'll take Al?"

"Sounds good to me."

Winry and Al didn't even have time to run before the two irate teens were on them, with Annora going after Winry with one of her own wrenches, and Ed just using his fists on Al. Unfortunately the impending brawl was disrupted by Pinako whapping the offending teenagers upside the head with a broom pole.

"Alright you four, that's enough," she said sternly. "As amusing as this may be, I believe that three of you have a train to catch."

"Oh shiiiittt!!" Annora wailed as she scrambled to her feet and bolted towards the front door, followed closely by Ed. "We're gonna miss it!!"

"Bye Granny Pinako, Winry! We'll be back again sometime!" Ed called out over his shoulder as he snagged his suitcase before running out the door, followed closely by Al, who now clutched Twilight tightly in his arms.

"You'd better!!" the automail mechanics threatened as they watched the three teenagers head for the train station as fast as they could possibly go.

"You idiots!! I swear that if we miss this train, I'll **kill** you!!" Annora snarled angrily over her shoulder at the two boys' right behind her.

"It's not my fault!" Ed retorted angrily. "Stop shouting at me and save your breath, otherwise we really will miss the train!!"

The three teens were forced to run headlong all the way to the train station, and even then they barely managed to get on just as the train was pulling out of the station. Thoroughly exhausted, Annora and Ed both collapsed in the first empty booth that they found and fell asleep propped up against each other, with a highly amused Alphonse watching them the entire time.

--

"So tired…." Ed groaned as he stumbled out onto the platform of the Central train station the next morning, dark circles underneath his eyes. Annora staggered out after him, her eyes half-open as she held Twilight's leash in her left hand, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with her right.

"I don't know what you're complaining about," she muttered before she let out a jaw-cracking yawn. "I pretty much slept the entire way here, so I feel pretty good. Tired, but good."

"You didn't have some fat old bastard snoring loud enough to wake the dead sitting right behind you," the teenage alchemist grumbled mutinously before he cast a glance over at the girl. "And you look oh-so-awake right now."

Annora didn't even look his way before she reached out and slapped her friend hard upside the head without even changing her expression, ignoring the boy's loud yelp of pain as he jumped away from her as though he had been scalded.

"One thing that you need to learn is that I am **not **a morning person," she stated simply with roll of her eyes. Ed opened his mouth to issue a very nasty retort, only to stop as Annora tripped over a protruding piece of pavement and fell flat on her face. The State Alchemist blinked in surprise before he pointed a finger at the girl and started to laugh uproariously.

"Way to go, klutz!" he crowed triumphantly, ignoring the death glare that the sixteen-year old sent his way as she pushed herself up off of the ground.

"Screw you, you misguided Munchkin!!" she spat angrily, only to freeze as her brain caught up with what her mouth had just said. "Uh… oh **shit**."

"Who are you calling a super midget that makes you want to step on him?!" Ed ranted angrily as he tried to lunge at the girl, only for Al to grab him by the back of his trench coat and hold him back. Annora rolled her eyes upwards as she got to her feet and brushed off her jeans, before she allowed what she was thinking to accidentally slip out.

"Put a sock in it, shorty."

The entire world seemed to grind to a halt as an overwhelming silence fell over the little group, and Annora flinched at the sudden murderous surge that welled up behind her, a massive aura of flames suddenly crackling around the small frame of a certain alchemist.

"I. Am. Going. To. **Kill**. You," the boy ground out menacingly, and Annora paled noticeably as she chanced a glance over her shoulder at her irate friend. If looks could kill, what may have been left of her body would have easily fitted inside of a matchbox, with a good deal of room to spare.

"Oh, crap," the sixteen-year old whispered hoarsely before she let out a nervous chuckle. Before Ed could even think to act, she scooped Twilight up into her arms and broke into a run towards Central HQ.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!!" the alchemist shrieked as he tore free of Alphonse's grip and dashed off after the girl. "COME BACK AND FACE ME!!"

"NO WAY IN HELL!!"

"STOP RUNNING!!"

"SORRY, BUT I'D RATHER LIVE TO SEE MY NEXT BIRTHDAY, THANK YOU **VERY** MUCH!!"

"NOT AFTER I GET THROUGH WITH YOU, YOU WON'T!!"

--

Fortunately for Annora, by the time she reached Central HQ, Ed was too exhausted from running full-tilt after her to extract revenge in any of the very painful manners that he had threatened her with earlier. Not to mention the fact that Al forced the two teens to apologize to each other before they even entered the front gates, making them promise not to get into any more fights while they were inside the building.

After stopping off at the room that the three of them usually occupied while doing research to drop off their bags (this being Ed's suitcase and Annora's backpack and laptop case), as well as attaching Twilight's leash to the table leg, Ed and Annora left to go and grab some reference books from the library while Al stayed behind to keep an eye on their stuff.

"You know, they should put some of these damn books on shorter shelves," Ed grumbled darkly as he strained to reach a thick leather-bound volume that lay just scant inches from his gloved fingertips. Annora just rolled her eyes and stood on her tiptoes before she easily plucked the alchemy tome out from the shelf and set it down on the floor by her feet on the top an already substantial-sized pile of books, ignoring the boy's sputtered protests.

"If you're having such a hard time with it, then why don't you just use one of the ladders?" she asked dryly, her brown eyes roving over the various titles on the shelf in front of her, looking for one that appeared promising. "They're kind of all over the place if you haven't noticed."

"That's because they're mocking me!!"

"…Ed, they're inanimate pieces of wood. The only way they could **possibly** be mocking you would be if one of them fell over on top of you. And even then that would be kind of questionable."

"But it **is** possible," the alchemist prodded, giving the girl cause to look upwards as though asking for divine intervention.

"Only if you're really paranoid. Besides, even I have to use them to get some of the books up on the higher shelves, so it's not like its just you that can't reach stuff," Annora pointed out in obvious exasperation. "The only difference is that you have a Napoleon Complex and I don't."

"Who the hell is Napoleon?" Ed asked suspiciously as he watched the teenager climb up one of the ladders to reach a book on one of the top shelves.

"A really short dead guy from France. He tried to conqueror all of Europe in the mid-1800's, but got his ass kicked in Russia when he tried to invade them during the winter," the sixteen-year old explained calmly as she pulled out a few books that looked useful before tucking them underneath her arm and starting down the ladder. "After that, he kept pulling his troops back from all of the countries that he had conquered because he kept getting the crap beaten out of him, and his final defeat was in Waterloo, where the British kicked the shit out of him."

In spite of himself, the alchemist was intrigued. Even though he had never heard of any of the countries that Annora was talking about, the story itself sounded interesting.

"Did they execute him?"

"Nah. According to my history teacher, Napoleon got exiled to some piss-ant little island in the Atlantic Ocean and ended up dying there. Some people re-examined his body not too long ago and found out that he had died from arsenic poisoning. There was a special on the Discovery Channel about it a few weeks before I came here, and some of the forensic scientists speculated that one of the servants banished with him probably poisoned him slowly over time."

Ed frowned thoughtfully as he looked at Annora with a raised eyebrow before he shrugged and looked down at the pile of books that they two of them had gathered.

"We're probably good with what we've got," he pointed out as he knelt down and stared gathering up a stack of the thick alchemy hardbacks. "There's no use in taking more than what we can carry."

"Good point," the girl agreed with a wry grin. "Al's not here to help us with these this time."

"No, he's making sure that your dog doesn't get into trouble."

"Well, you know… a lot of people say that pets resemble their owners…"

"Oh geez, if that dog is anything like you we're all doomed."

"Hey, I resent that! Besides, Mustang will be the one with problems, not you."

Laughing good-naturedly at the friendly ribbing that was going back and forth between them, the two teenagers slowly made their way through the February snow back towards the main building of Central HQ. Once inside, they let out a sigh of relief at being in out of the cold before continuing towards their room, only to be stopped by a familiar voice.

"Hey Ed, when did you get back?"

The Fullmetal Alchemist glanced over his shoulder to see Havoc poking his head out of the doorway to the room outside of Mustang's office. The teenager gave a slight grin at the older man as he turned around to face him.

"Well, actually I just got into Central on the train a few hours ago," he admitted, shooting a warning look in Annora's direction as she gave an amused snort. Havoc ignored this as he walked up to the younger boy and gave him a conspiratorial smile.

"You've missed quite a bit since you've left," the Second Lieutenant said as he chewed thoughtfully on the end of his cigarette. "We just got a new recruit added on a few weeks ago. He's actually pretty cool, but he's got a slightly warped sense of humor."

"Only slightly warped, Havoc?" a new voice called out from within the office, amusement lacing his tone. "You insult me."

"Since when are you so easily insulted, Eric?" the older man jabbed, missing the shocked look that flashed across Annora's face as her chocolate eyes widened slightly. Ed however, did see it, and frowned slightly just before Havoc placed a hand on the small of the two teens backs and guided them into the office. "Here, why don't I introduce you to him?"

The moment Annora caught sight of the new recruit sitting at one of the desks she went dead white, a sharp gasp jerking its way from her throat. Her entire body went numb with shock, and the heavy load of books fell from her arms with a resounding 'thud' on the floor as her hands lost all feeling in them.

"Ethan…" she managed to mouth wordlessly, her throat constricting as she stared at the young man in front of her as though she was seeing a ghost. Before anyone could react, the sixteen-year old whirled around and bolted from the room.

"Annora!" Ed shouted as he shoved his load of books into Havoc's arms, ignoring the older man's startled 'oof!', before he raced after the girl. "Damn it, wait up!!"

Annora ignored her friend's cries as she ran as fast as she could down the hallway, her breath coming in short, harsh gasps while unshed tears burned at the corners of her eyes. For the first time in her life all she wanted to do was just keep running until she collapsed, removing herself as far as humanly possible from the pain that threatened to rip her apart from the inside out.

'_How?!'_ she wondered as she rounded a corner, the worn tread of her sneakers slipping slightly on the polished stone floor. _'How is it that he looks so much like my brother? Why is he even here?!'_

The worst part of seeing the man that Havoc had called 'Eric' hadn't just been the fact that he looked exactly like Ethan, right down to the slight impish glint in his hazel eyes; it had been the blank look of someone meeting a stranger in the Private's eyes when he had looked at her. It was almost as though God had decided to play a cruel practical joke and return her brother to her, but only in body. The things that had made Ethan her goofy, sarcastic, pyromaniac, protective older brother were no longer there in that familiar face, yielding instead to the personality of another.

A shuddering sob tore from the teenager's throat as her knees suddenly gave away, and she crumbled to the floor in a heap, tears streaking down her face. She was so out of it that she didn't even hear the footsteps approaching her until a familiar automail hand gripped her left shoulder gently.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ed asked quietly as he knelt down next to her, concern evident in his golden eyes. Annora stared at him for a few seconds before her body acted all on its own, and she suddenly found herself crying into her friend's shoulder, clutching desperately at his trademark red trench coat.

"Him… did you see…?" she choked out in between sobs. Astonishment flickered through the alchemist's eyes before understanding dawned upon him and he gently pulled the distraught girl close to him.

"The new Private, he looks just like your brother," he said softly. Annora made a low, pained noise is response before she forced herself to speak.

"It's him… his face… but it's not him!!" she moaned. "When he looked at me… I could tell that he was seeing me for the first time. Why does he look so much like my brother when it's not **him**?! It's like everyone wants to keep reminding me that he's gone and he's never coming back!"

The Fullmetal Alchemist frowned slightly as he held Annora close to him, silently sympathizing with the girl as she struggled between crying her eyes out and calming down. If he had ever seen someone that looked like Al, he didn't know what he would have done.

"You know, I don't think that your brother would want this," he said finally, giving the sixteen-year old an understanding look as she glanced up at him with red eyes. "Just because someone's gone doesn't mean that you need to forget them. You still remember them, and think about how much that you loved them, but you also move on with the rest of your life. I don't think that your brother would want you to spend the rest of your life crying for him."

Ed smiled kindly at the teenager, with just a hint of his usual smirk twitching about his lips, before he reached down and gently rapped his knuckles against one of Annora's knees.

"You've got two good, strong legs, so get up and use them to keep moving forward," he pointed out, eliciting a watery chuckle from the sixteen-year old as she shakily reached up and wiped her tears away with the cuff of her jacket.

"Thanks Ed," she said before she gave a weak laugh as she wiped at her eyes. "Man, you must think I'm such a baby for crying like that."

"Annora, everyone cries, even me. I'm just glad that you think enough of me to let me see you cry."

Annora froze as she looked over at the boy with wide eyes, astonishment evident on her features. Ed arched an eyebrow slightly and gave a wry grin before he got to his feet and held out a hand to her, waiting patiently for her to take it. The sixteen-year old hesitated for a second before she trustingly placed her flesh hand inside his automail one, allowing the cool steel fingers to wrap around her wrist as her friend hauled her to her feet.

"C'mon. Let's go get those books back from Havoc."

--

Well, the moment of truth has finally arrived. Annora has met Ethan in Amestris for the very first time, and reacted badly to the situation. The fact that the Gate currently has possession of all of her brother's memories of her doesn't exactly help matters much either. And yes, I have put in a little EdxAnnora fluff… just a little bit. Some of my ideas for how Ed would act in the situation came from the twelfth volume of the manga, where Winry finds out that Scar killed her parents, and how Ed handles her reaction.

I like both the anime and the manga for _Fullmetal Alchemist_, but I like the anime a little bit more because it makes the Homunculi and Dante, as well as Hohenheim, a little more human in retrospect, as well as giving them an actual reason for their goals other than the joy of death and destruction.

**Envy:** I thought that you just liked it because of the fact that you had proof that I was once human and could annoy the hell out of me for it.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** (Smirks knowingly) Nah, I only do that 'cause you're a dick.

**Envy:** (Scowls at WH before giving her the finger behind her back) You know, for a college student you're really immature.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Says the cross-dressing bastard who's permanently stuck at eighteen. Ahou. And, to quote a certain smart-ass doctor with a Vikidin addiction, I use Japanese because I'm an ass.

**Envy:** I should kill you right now. (WH doesn't even turn around as she flips him the bird, accompanied by a very rude suggestion in sign language)

**Wandering Hitokiri:** You can try.

**Envy:** Bitch.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Faggot. (Envy jumps WH with a howl of rage before a massive fistfight ensues, accompanied by much hair-pulling)

**Ed:** -.-; … why am I not surprised?

**Annora:** Because they get into it each time she writes a chapter? After twenty chapters, plus five different side-stories, three of which have yet to either be finished or published, you should be used to this.

**Mustang:** I think what Fullmetal's talking about is the fact that they're currently in one massive catfight. (Pulls out a digital camera and starts taking pictures) Maybe I can put Hitokiri's computer to a better use than writing the tripe that she comes up with. (Snaps another picture) Oh, this is a **good** shot.

**Ed:** Pervert… and by a better use I'm assuming you mean porn? Why the hell are you taking pictures anyways?

**Mustang:** Because I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to have my office booby-trapped in some horrible manner in the next chapter, and I want as much blackmail as possible to keep that from happening. And as for your question on porn, that has nothing to do with you. (Looks around suspiciously before he pulls out a copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ and starts reading, 'borrowed' from Kakashi)

**Annora:** Okay, let's go. I have better thing to do than watch the Colonel act like a dirty old man.

**Reviews:**

anime.storm: Yeah, Annora's going to be evil and keep Ed guessing for a while, but he kind of deserves it for being an ass in the first place. I hope that this chapter answers your other question.

writingdreamer13: Well, I think that if anyone was in a situation like that they'd have some issues, especially if they've never been in intelligence gathering before. Some people just handle different kinds of stress better than others do. As for Ethan's relationship with Annora… you'll see the affects of his memory loss later on.

Mimori Kiryu: Thank you very much; I'm glad that you liked it. Katie is just one of those perky, nutty characters who really doesn't grasp how serious something really is until it happens to her. Alice is just an anime-obsessed brat who fantasizes about fictional characters, namely some very disgusting fantasies if you haven't guessed. Unfortunately I actually knew someone like that, so Alice is based off of a real person.

agent000: The memory loss bit was just a sudden slap of inspiration, accompanied by thinking about what happened to Alphonse after he got his body back. Thank you so much for the help, and I will definitely be asking you about stuff again in the future.

tiggeranddash: Yes it does, which is why I don't worry too much about assassination plots coming from that aspect. Besides, it's too damn funny to watch Ed and Mustang go at it when they're trying to decide how to put a stop to my insanity. As for Annora, she just watched some old _NCIS_ episodes on her MP3 player to get her mind off of the evil yaoi pic that she saw.

**Annora:** You forgot to mention the bar of mind soap I used.

Lulu4ever: Cool.

MyDarkSideHasAWayOfHerOwn: Keyboarding can be evil, no doubt about that. Have fun killing Envy.

Phantom SunsSong: Nothing's gonna happen to Hughes just yet. He's too important to the storyline… and he drives Ethan bonkers. And Ethan's reaction when he first sees alchemy will be… memorable, to say the least. Any pairing with Ed that isn't heterosexual is just foul, sick, and wrong in my opinion. I don't like yaoi, not one bit, and I hate it when people try and shove it down my throat. That just makes me hate it even more than I already do.

Zilo Sugarpill: (Russell falls back with a stapler stuck to his head) Yes, it is a good thing that Ed and Annora have made up, seeing as it was kind of a dumb argument, caused by the local butthead sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. As for Envy and his close encounters with the trash can kind… it's kind of a running joke among my friends and I, seeing as I once expressed the desire to seal Envy into a trash can after I first saw him in the anime. So he's kind of like a psychotic, gender-confused Oscar the Grouch with a dirty mouth.

Devylle: Wow, I'm very glad that you enjoy my story so much. Thank you for reading it, and taking the time to review. As for what possessed me to do the little side story in the chapter 18, well, it all started with a reviewer suggesting that Envy and Annora get together. I just kind of took the idea and ran with it, turning it into a complete and total spoof while harassing Envy in the process. If you haven't figured out by now, I really enjoy doing that. Maybe I should write a fic solely on how to torture Envy… that would be fun.

**Envy:** NO!!

ShadowYashi: I'm naturally very sarcastic myself, so I just kind of take how I would react in some of these situations and insert them into the storyline. No, if I ever met Envy and he wanted to kill me, I would make sure that I at least got in some major pot-shots at him to deserve being killed, as well as be a total smart-ass. Even if on the inside I was wetting myself from sheer terror.

richard9311: Thank you very much.

I do not own any of the characters from _Fullmetal Alchemist_, even though I may wish that I did. I do own Annora, Ethan, and Katie.

Special thanks to my friend **SamuraiRin63** for sending me the song _Citizen Soldiers_ by 3 Doors Down, which was my inspirational music for this chapter.


	21. Chapter Twenty: Things Left Behind

"It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief

"It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses." – Colette

**Chapter Twenty:**

**Things Left Behind**

Annora stayed quiet during the little walk back to the office area, not really paying attention to anything as her thoughts whirled about wildly inside her mind. She was too preoccupied to even notice the fact that Ed had stopped walking a few yards away from the office door until he reached out and grabbed her arm, gently pulling her to a stop.

"Hey, anybody home in there?" he asked quietly, teasingly waving a hand in front of the girl's face. Annora gave a half-hearted chuckle as she brushed her friend's hand aside.

"Ed, knock it off."

The teenage alchemist gazed at her for a few moments before the look in his golden eyes became serious, and he gently put a hand on the other teen's shoulder.

"Annora, do you want to wait out in the hall while I get the books?" he asked before he flashed a faint shadow of one of his usual cocksure grins. "I can probably carry them out by myself. You don't have to go in there if you don't want to."

The sixteen-year old looked at her friend thoughtfully for a few moments, inwardly grateful for his offer, before she smiled softly at him.

"Thanks for the offer, but I should probably go in with you," she admitted, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face. "I should apologize to that poor guy anyways since I probably scared the crap out of him by running away like that. Besides, I can't keep hiding from him if he works here with Havoc and the others."

"Facing your fears, eh?" the alchemist commented wryly, arching a golden eyebrow upwards, and Annora smiled faintly as she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Winston Churchill always said that 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself'," she said jokingly before a frown crossed her face. "No, wait, that was Franklin Roosevelt… I think. Churchill was the one who said that 'I may be drunk madam, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly'."

Ed stared at her for a split second in disbelief before he burst out laughing.

"Where the hell did you get that one?" he asked after he got his laughter under control. Annora gave an evasive shrug as she cast an apprehensive glance over her shoulder at the office door before she returned her attention to the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"My dad, I think. He always had this tendency to say stuff like that, especially while we were eating dinner. That was before he and Mom left for China though…"

"You miss them, don't you?"

The sixteen-year old gave a sad smile as a wistful look entered her chocolate eyes, and she absentmindedly rubbed her right arm.

"I miss a lot of things," she admitted finally. "And the funny thing is that the things I miss the most are the simple, regular, everyday things that I never even thought about before. After Ethan left for first boot camp, and then later on Iraq, I missed his smart-ass comments and consistent teasing, even though a few years before I would have given anything for him to have left me alone. I miss the simple knowledge of the fact that my day would consist of nothing more than the usual high school drama, with the monotony broken by Katie coming over to my house after school every once and a while. Now… well, now I don't know what will happen. Everything just seems to be changing so fast, almost too fast for me to keep up with."

"You miss being a normal kid with normal problems," Ed inserted, and gave Annora a knowing smile at her startled look. "I've had that feeling too sometimes, when I miss what life was like for Al and me with our mom, when we were kids. But we can't go back to that, no matter how much we wish we could. It's part of growing up, even if we don't like it."

The girl nodded quietly in agreement before she let out a sigh and gave her friend a half-hearted grin, obviously attempting to regain her usual cheerful attitude. "Well, let's go and grab those books and get back to Al before Mustang comes in and busts our asses. He's probably still pissed about the whole 'thong' incident."

The State Alchemist snickered at the memory of his CO's humiliation. "That was still brilliant by the way. I wish I'd had a camera to see the look on Colonel Bastard's face when Hawkeye came after him with her gun."

"Ed, if you'd been there, you'd probably be dead."

"Only if he had caught me."

The sixteen-year old rolled her eyes upwards as she and Ed walked into the office, only to come face-to face with an irritated and slightly bewildered Havoc.

"What the hell was that all about?" he demanded, fixing the two teens with an intense look. "Both of you just ran out of here for absolutely no reason."

"Well… to tell the truth…" Annora began hesitantly, casting a nervous glance over at Eric out of the corner of her eye. "I-"

"She hasn't been feeling well lately, and she felt like she was going to be sick," Ed broke in with a straight face. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to shove all of those books at you, Havoc."

The older man waved it off, accepting the lie, while 'Eric' watched the two teenagers intently, a slight frown crossing his face. Why did he feel like he knew that girl from somewhere?

"Well, it's been a while since the last time you two were here," Havoc mused as he looked over at Ethan, mistaking his slight frown for a look of confusion. "Anyways, allow me to introduce you to our new Private, Eric Thomas."

"Thomas?" Annora squeaked involuntarily, her brown eyes going wide as she immediately looked over at the twenty-year old; completely missing Ed's shocked obscenity as she stared at him. "Your last name is Thomas?"

"Yeah… it's a pretty common name though," Ethan said, slightly bewildered at the girl's reaction. Almost immediately he felt bad for having said so as the teenager smiled sadly in response.

"That's true," she muttered thoughtfully before she forced a cheerful tone into her voice. "It's still kind of weird though, since that's my last name too."

"Really?"

"Yep. I'm Annora by the way," the sixteen-year old said as she held out her right hand. "Nice to meet you."

Ethan hesitated for a second before he took her hand and shook it. Something told him that the girl was acting as though nothing was wrong, even though it was obvious that something was bothering her. A slight frown crossed the man's face as he turned around to face Havoc, only to find the older man questioning Ed.

"So, what caused you three to leave Central in such a rush?" the chain-smoker asked calmly, arching a sandy eyebrow slightly. The teenage alchemist scowled as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, his entire body tense.

"Mustang decided to pull a prank on Annora as retribution for the flyers that she passed out," he explained tersely. "He gave her a…"

"A what?" Breda prodded, and Annora rolled her eyes upwards as she joined the conversation.

"He gave me a thong," she stated bluntly as she frowned. "I was less than thrilled with it, and so I regifted it to someone who might have a better use for it."

Havoc, Falman, Fuery, Breda, and 'Eric' all stared at the girl incredulously before Havoc let out a low whistle of surprise, his blue eyes wide in disbelief.

"So that's why Hawkeye was so mad at him that day," the Second Lieutenant muttered as he ran a hand over his hair nervously. "No wonder the Colonel pulled a disappearing act."

"Why was he dumb enough to give a thong to a kid anyways?" Ethan piped up seriously. "If you ask me, that's looking for trouble right there."

"Since when is the bastard Colonel ever smart?" Ed retorted snarkily, ignoring Annora's warning look as he started straight at the new recruit. "You really haven't been here long, have you?"

"Shut up. I could ask you the same thing, runt."

"Runt?!"

"Yes, runt. How old are you anyways, twelve?"

"**O**-kay, I think we need to get going," Annora jumped in, clapping a hand over Ed's mouth before he could explode into one of his infamous 'short' rants and hooking an arm underneath his armpit to restrain the alchemist. "We'll just take those books and get out of your guys hair, lots of research to do."

The sixteen-year old removed her hand from her friend's mouth, shooting him a warning look as she released him. Ed immediately opened his mouth to launch a foul reply to Ethan's jibe, only for Annora to stomp down on the toes of his right foot, **hard**.

The Fullmetal Alchemist almost used every single obscenity that he knew as he fought back the howl of pain that threatened to emerge from his lungs. He directed an incredibly dirty look in his friend's direction, only for her to silently mouth 'do it and die', accompanied by a murderous look. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Ed managed to keep his threats to himself, barely.

"Y-yeah, lots of research," he managed to croak instead, trying not to let anyone know that he'd just had all of his remaining toes smashed as he grabbed the stack of books that he had abandoned earlier. Annora watched him carefully for a few seconds as he limped out the door in a way that showed he was trying **not **to look like he'd been attacked before she grabbed her own pile of books and headed towards the door to the hallway.

"Bye guys!" she called out over her shoulder as she followed the slightly limping alchemist back to the room that they had left Al in. As they left the room behind, the teenager tried to put the man that looked so much like her brother out of her mind, only to fail miserably.

She knew that while Ed and Al were doing research on the Philosopher's Stone that day that she'd be conducting a little research of her own on the stone gate that kept appearing in her dreams.

--

Havoc and the others waited for a few minutes until Ed and Annora were gone before the Second Lieutenant started to chuckle.

"Well I'll be damned. I never thought it would happen, but it looks like Ed's gotten himself whipped."

"Hey, that's not fair guys," Fuery protested. "There might be something else going on."

"Like what, the kid's just a friend?" Breda asked with a grin. "Bet you anything they're dating."

Ethan arched an eyebrow as he looked between his superior officers for a few moments before he finally voiced his thoughts.

"What the hell are you all talking about?" he demanded. "And who were those kids? Not to mention why were they here in a military base? Are they the kids of some of the officers or something?"

All four of the men blinked at the new recruit as they fell into a stunned silence. Finally, Falman was able to gather his wits together as he looked at the younger man in surprise.

"That wasn't just 'some kid'," he stated seriously, looking Ethan straight in the eye. "That was the youngest State Alchemist in history, the Fullmetal Alchemist. He's a real child prodigy, since he joined the military at the age of twelve, and that was four years ago."

"WHAT?!" Ethan yelped as he stared at the Warrant Officer like he had lost his mind before another thought struck him. "That kid… **he's** the Fullmetal Alchemist?!"

"You got it."

The Private muttered a curse under his breath and nervously ran a hand through his sandy hair before he turned around and headed out the door.

"Hey Eric, where are you going?" Havoc called out as he rushed out after the younger man. Ethan turned around and looked over his shoulder at the Second Lieutenant before he responded.

"I need to go talk to Lt. Colonel Hughes about something," he said before he started walking down the hall. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon. It shouldn't take long."

"Why, what's up?"

"I forgot that I needed to ask him something."

Havoc arched an eyebrow at his friend's evasive comment, but before he could ask him anything else, the younger man had vanished around a corner. The moment Ethan was out of Havoc's sight, he broke into a fast trot, excitement surging through his veins.

'_I don't believe it. That kid was the Fullmetal Alchemist, and I didn't even think to ask him about that girl he traveled with,'_ the twenty-year old realized as he stopped at the corner of yet another one of the maze-like hallways. _'Hmm… I wonder if she was that girl that he was with, Annora. But they seemed more like friends than anything, so it might be someone else too.'_

Either way, he had a lead to how he got to Amestris in the first place and maybe even a way to get back as well.

--

'_Gate, Gate, where's any entry on something called the Gate?'_ Annora wondered silently as she flipped though an alchemy book that she had selected at random from the huge stack that she and Ed had brought back from the library. Her brown eyes scanned over the words printed on the page rapidly, searching for any mention of the thing that she was now convinced had something to do with her presence in Amestris.

The sixteen-year old was practically oblivious to anything else going on, except for the gradual numbing of her feet, seeing as Twilight was currently sound asleep on top of her shoes.

"You know you'll go cross-eyed if you try to read any faster," Ed remarked nonchalantly, causing the girl to look up from her book and give him a dirty look.

"I'm looking for something specific, dummy," she grumbled, returning her attention to the printed words in front of her only for a moment before she was interrupted once again.

"Since when are you so interested in alchemy anyways?"

"I figured that it might be useful to know some of the actual technicalities behind it instead of just doing stuff blindly."

"Bullshit."

"Cows shit too, but they don't brag about it," Annora retorted offhandedly. "Why are you being so suspicious?"

"Because all of a sudden you're seriously interested in alchemy, and before all you really wanted to do was learn kids stuff," the teenage alchemist pointed out seriously. The teenage girl paused for a moment before she snapped her book shut and set it down on the table before looking straight into her friend's fey eyes.

"You think I'm desperate enough to try human transmutation," she stated simply, ignoring Al's shocked gasp as she frowned at the Fullmetal Alchemist. "Ed, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told that bastard Envy when he offered me a chance to bring Ethan back. First of all, I'm **not** that dumb, and second, you and Al didn't succeed, so how the hell would possibly I be able to? Besides… even if I had some sort of guarantee that something wouldn't go wrong, how would I know that Ethan would still be the same person?"

"Oh," was all Ed said, and he had the decency to look ashamed as the sixteen-year old returned her attention to her book. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize; it was a perfectly legitimate concern. I just thought that you knew me better than that, that's all."

"That sounds like something that bastard Mustang would say."

"Speaking of Mustang, I wonder how the hell he got out of his office to escape Hawkeye anyways," Annora mused thoughtfully, only for a chill to crawl down her spine at the sudden ominous presence that manifested itself right behind them. Noticing the stunned and terrified looks on Ed and Al's faces respectively, she came to a sinking conclusion.

"He's right behind me, isn't he?" she asked faintly, and was given a slight nod of ascent in response.

"You bet I am, and try that I escaped by jumping out the window," the Flame Alchemist growled threateningly, causing the girl to flinch before she chanced a glance over her shoulder at the angry Colonel.

"Oh, hey Colonel Mustang," she said with a slightly sheepish grin, noticing with a definite hint of unease that he was wearing his ignition-cloth gloves. "How are you doing, sir?"

"Well enough, in spite of your previous attempt on my life," the older man stated coldly with a scowl. Annora let out a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head before she decided to try to lighten the ominous mood hanging heavily in the room.

"You know, if you keep glaring at the floor like that, it'll only be a matter of time before there's a hole in the floor and smoke starts drifting up to alert the smoke detector... Hawkeye'll really be after you then," she joked, only to quail under the fierce stare that Mustang sent her way, his onyx eyes practically boring into her very soul.

"Shut up," he muttered before he switched his gaze over to her friend. "I have half a mind to put the both of you on KP duty for the rest of your natural lives."

"What?!" Ed yelped incredulously as he shot up out of his seat and glowered at Mustang defiantly. "You can't do that!!"

"Fullmetal, as your commanding officer I am more than capable of assigning you to assist the cooks as punishment," the Flame Colonel pointed out smugly before he smirked at the older Elric. "Any use of alchemy of course, would be forbidden."

Ed snarled out an obscenity as he made an attempt to lunge at Mustang and strangle him, only to have Al grab him by the shoulder and force him back down into his seat.

"Brother, calm down," the possessed suit of armor admonished as his older sibling squirmed about in his seat, glaring daggers in Mustang's vicinity. Annora looked over in her irate friend's direction and shot him a warning look, and then twisted around in her chair as she returned her attention to the dark-haired alchemist behind her before she smiled at him.

"Sounds fun," she said cheerily. "I like cooking."

Mustang blinked in surprise as he stared at the girl, obviously not expecting her obvious enthusiasm. Ed just stared at her like she had grown another head, disbelief evident in his golden eyes.

"Are you _insane_?!" he hissed. "Do you **not** know what KP is?!"

Annora opened her mouth to issue an appropriate retort, only to be interrupted by a loud yap, followed by a very juvenile-sounding growl as Twilight came out from under the table and started growling at Mustang's boots.

"Oh shit," the teenager whispered hoarsely, the blood draining from her face as she stared at her dog in stunned horror. "Twi, no! Get back under the table!"

The Colonel merely stared at the small black and white puppy for several moments before he knelt down and picked her up, holding the collie up at eye level.

"Dog, huh?" he asked slowly, causing Annora to cringe at the thought of the lecture she was probably going to receive about bringing pets into the military HQ. Instead, a smile crossed the older man's face as he looked at Twilight. "I love dogs!"

"Huh? You do?" the girl muttered unintelligently as she gawked at Mustang in complete and total disbelief. The Flame Alchemist… the man who she was more than convinced hated her guts… was a **dog** lover?

"Of course!" Mustang crowed as he started waving Twilight around, a fanatical gleam in his dark eyes. "They're the embodiment of loyalty! They follow their master's command above all else! Loyal canine, how we salute thee!!"

'_Oh, he only appreciates them for their loyalty. Figures,' _Annora realized before she turned around to look at her friends, who both looked like they had been hit upside the head with something, or were at least wishing they had been. "He's crazy."

"And you figured this out when?" Ed asked, sarcasm practically dripping from his tone and pooling into a puddle on the floor. "You're gawking by the way."

The sixteen-year old stared at him for a few moments before she trusted herself to respond.

"Your sarcasm is dutifully noted and ignored," she stated simply as she turned back around to look at the Colonel, and found him giving Ed a speculative look.

"Fullmetal, how can a girl **not** gawk in the intelligent glow that radiates from my being?" Mustang asked as he gave the boy a smug look, completely missing Annora roll her eyes upwards in exasperation.

"Sorry, there must be something wrong with my eyes then," she retorted sarcastically before Ed could say something. "All I see are dumb people. Actually, nix that. I only see a dumb **person**."

The Colonel turned around and gaped at her, the wind blown completely out of his sails before he let out an offended snort and started fawning over Twilight again while Ed held back a snicker. Annora decided that it was probably best to change the subject as she arched an eyebrow curiously at the older man's infantile behavior. "So, you only like dogs because of their loyalty?"

Mustang stopped swinging Twilight around and looked down at the teenage girl, an indescribable look in his dark eyes as he automatically shifted the dog back into a more appropriate holding position in his arms.

"Dogs are called man's best friend for a reason Miss Thomas," he stated simply, all traces of his earlier nuttiness gone. "They provide you with unconditional love, can be trained to perform specific tasks without any need for a reward, and serve as excellent protectors, all for the promise of your affection and approval. Dogs are magnificent creatures, and are more than deserving of the title that they hold."

"And I just thought that they were fun to have," Annora muttered before she looked up at the Colonel. "Can I please have my dog back now? I think she needs to go outside."

Mustang glanced down at Twilight and found that the puppy was indeed doing the universal dance that all things do when visited with the urgent need to visit the closest available bathroom in his arms.

"I think that you should have just let her pee on the Colonel," Ed grumped suddenly, a scowl on is face, and Mustang immediately smirked at the younger boy.

"Are you volunteering for latrine duty, Fullmetal?" he asked knowingly, only to have the blonde give him a dirty look.

"Screw you," the teenager muttered rebelliously, causing Annora to cringe. For some reason, she had a feeling that she knew what was going to happen next.

"Why Fullmetal, I didn't know you swung that way."

"Okay, gotta go," Annora said as she snatched Twilight from Mustang's arms and bolted from the room, slamming the door shut behind her, before Hurricane Edward could strike. Fortunately she was able to make it outside before the State Alchemist exploded with an unparalleled fury, his voice riding up to a furious shriek that rivaled a dog whistle in pitch, only anyone unfortunate enough to be within city limits could hear it.

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU SKIRT-CHASING OLD BASTARD?!"

"Oh yes Ed, that's **wonderfully** subtle," the sixteen-year old muttered as she crouched down by a tree, waiting for Twi to do her business so that she could go back inside the warm building. "Why don't you just call him a wet match to dig yourself in even deeper?"

There was a muffled 'boom' somewhere around where the research areas were, and Annora was fairly certain that a loud-mouthed alchemist of her acquaintance had just gotten barbequed.

"Idiot," the teenager muttered as she watched Twi amble over towards one of the snow-covered bushes and do her duty… or doody. "Okay, let's go back inside now. I'm freezing my ass off out here."

Just as the girl was about to stand up, a loud 'crash' resounded from the other side of the block wall behind her, followed by a steady stream of creative curses.

"God dammit, I hate this stupid fucking ice!!" a familiar voice raged. "Ow… I think I broke my ass."

"I told you not to run," another voice, this one Annora recognized as belonging to Lt. Colonel Hughes, stated. "It's not like the records room is **going** anywhere."

"But-"

"No buts, Eric. I know exactly where that file is, so it's only a matter of pulling it out and reading it. There's no need for you to be so anxious."

"…"

"You don't agree with me, do you?"

"No sir. I'm just… a little nervous, that's all."

"There's no need to be. All it happens to be is a document, a typed account on what was said, that's it. I wouldn't get your hopes up though. You may find nothing."

"I can live with that sir. At least I tried."

"Good idea. Now let's go find that folder!"

Annora arched an eyebrow as she straightened up and looked over in the direction that the Lt. Colonel and Private had gone, a slight frown twisting across her pursed lips. What the heck was that conversation all about? The teenager thought about it for a little while before she gave a shrug and headed inside with Twilight trailing behind her heels.

"The Lt. Colonel probably drafted him with helping him clean the records room or something," she mused with a grin. "That poor guy. He's probably going to die from overexposure to pictures of Elysia in the process."

Shoving the incident out of her mind, the sixteen-year old made her way back inside and down the hall, where she became aware of the strong odor of burnt hair permeating the air. Annora almost immediately clapped a hand over her mouth and nose in an attempt to block the offensive stench, trying not to gag as she did so.

"Gah, it smells like something died," she muttered. When the teenager entered the research room, she found Al trying to put the singed room back into semblance of order, gathering up scorched papers and re-stacking them back up on the table. Oddly enough, Ed was nowhere to bee seen.

Arching an eyebrow, the girl shut the door behind her and started to help the younger Elric with cleaning up the room. Al looked up at her in surprise before he relaxed slightly and continued with straightening up the disarray.

"Hello Annora. Brother and the Colonel kind of… got into a fight," the fifteen-year old said hesitantly as a way of explanation.

"So I see," Annora commented wryly as she brushed some ash off of the tabletop, letting out a soft sigh of relief when she saw that the library books weren't damaged. "It almost looks like someone set off a crapload of firecrackers in here."

"Not that you would know anything about that, right?"

"No, not at all."

"Why do I have the feeling that you're not telling me the truth on that?"

"I plead the Fifth. I have the right to remain silent so as not to further incriminate myself," the sixteen-year old commented seriously as she tried to look innocent. Al shot her a reproving look as he set a couple of books on the table, his red eyes narrowed slightly.

"Annora…" he said warningly, and the older girl gave him a sheepish shrug as she smiled.

"My brother was an explosives nut. What do you expect? I just kind of picked some stuff along the way through osmosis as I watched some of his… experiments."

"I can only assume that these 'experiments' you're talking about were something like what Brother and the Colonel do when they go at it."

The two teens looked at the destruction around them, and then at each other for a few moments before they both said the exact same thing.

"They're both idiots."

--

"Hmm… Thomas, Thomas… it should be right around here," Hughes muttered as he shuffled through a stack of files in one of the many file cabinets pushed up against the walls of his office. Ethan gave the older man a skeptical look as he gazed around at Hughes's office, arching an eyebrow slightly as he took in the mounds of manila folders and paperwork stacked up on the Lt. Colonel's desk.

The young man glanced at the numerous framed pictures resting on the wooden desk among the piles of paperwork curiously for a moment before he realized that they were probably pictures of the Lt. Colonel's family. When he leaned forward slightly for further inspection, Ethan immediately recoiled in slight disgust as he instantly recognized the face of Hughes's daughter. He had seen more than enough pictures of the four-year old to last him a lifetime, and he didn't need more shoved at him after being caught looking at one of the photographs.

Silently hoping and praying that Hughes hadn't seen him, Ethan turned around to watch the older man go through the documents once again.

"This place looks like a paper bomb went off in it," the twenty-year old remarked, disbelief obvious in his tone as he eyed the filing cabinet Hughes was digging through doubtfully. "Don't you think that it might be on your desk?"

"No, I know that I put it here in the 'T' section," the Lt. Colonel insisted over his shoulder before he returned to rummaging around within the confines of the filing drawer. "I handed the folder to Sheska and I watched her put it in this very drawer. There's no way that it could possibly be anywhere else."

"Do you think that maybe someone else pulled it out and took it?"

"That's impossible. Sheska and I are the only ones who have the keys to these cabinets since I'm the head of the Investigations department, and she's my secretary and research assistant. Someone would have had to have gone to one of us to pull out that file, and I would remember it being taken."

Ethan sighed as he looked at the older man, a mixture of confusion and worry on his face as he glanced around the office.

"So… what you're saying is that it's impossible for this file to have gone missing, but it still isn't here anyway?"

"Correct."

The twenty-year old frowned as he directed his gaze over to the window, and his hazel eyes widened marginally for a moment before a strange look entered his eyes.

"Is it possible for someone to have broken into here and stolen it?" he asked quietly while staring fixedly at the window, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Hughes stopped shifting through the files in the cabinet for a moment as he looked over his shoulder at the new recruit, an eyebrow arched questioningly.

"And what makes you say that?"

Ethan hesitated for a second before he pointed over towards the window, an odd expression on his face.

"It's just that… well, that window almost looks like it was forced open by something. And well, not to sound smug or anything, but I could probably pick the lock on the filing cabinet with the right tools," he stated cautiously. Maes Hughes frowned as he strode over to the window and examined the wooden sill closely before he hissed out a curse underneath his breath.

"Dammit, you're right," he growled as he straightened up, anger shining in his golden-green eyes as he clenched his fist tightly. "But what I don't get is why someone besides us would even **want** that damn file."

Ethan paused for a moment before realization hit him, and he immediately went white with shock as he looked over at the Investigations officer slowly.

"Whoever it was, they were looking for the folder for the same reasons we were," he stated quietly, fear evident in his hazel eyes. "They wanted to know about this girl, Annora. Well now they have it, as well as the knowledge that she's not exactly from around here."

The Lieutenant Colonel froze as the implications of Ethan's statement hit him, and he let loose a word that he would have never allowed anyone to use around his daughter without the direct threat of death.

"This is bad," Hughes muttered grimly as he held his hand over his mouth. "If whoever stole that file brings the fact that Annora's not an Amestranian citizen to the attention of the military, all sorts of things could happen as a result, and none of them are even remotely pleasant to think about."

"Like what?"

"Well, for instance, she could be arrested as a spy. I can guarantee that the higher ups will make sure that she disappears permanently, and the last time they did that they sent political prisoners and condemned criminals to a secret laboratory as human guinea pigs for alchemic experiments. She could also be tortured and executed."

"You have **got** to be **shitting** me," Ethan said incredulously as he stared at the older man before unease crossed his features. "What kind of a fucked up country is this place anyways?! If what you told me is true, they could possibly execute an innocent sixteen-year old girl whose only crime is not being born here!! This is bullshit!! In the United States we'd never pull this kind of crap!"

"But we're not in the United States kid," the Lieutenant Colonel reminded the younger man gently, his expression grave, "you need to remember that this isn't your homeland. Things are different here, and as much as you may hate that, you also need to keep in mind that you need to watch out for you as well."

Ethan scowled as he looked away from Hughes's stern gaze, but nodded in agreement.

"Well this bites little green doggy dicks," he muttered acidly under his breath as he glared down at the carpeted floor, and for one brief second he had a mental glimpse of a young girl around twelve or so with lively brown eyes looking at him with an aghast expression on her face before she burst into peals of laughter. Ethan blinked in surprise as he straightened up, only for the memory to disappear as fast as it had come up.

The Private cursed silently at his inability to remember, only to jerk in surprise as Hughes cleared his throat loudly.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked. "You looked a little spacey for a bit there."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ethan said as he waved off the older man's concern. "I just thought that I remembered something right then, but it's gone now."

"As long as you're sure," the Lt. Colonel pointed out before he let out an annoyed sigh and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Look, you'd better get back to work. I need to go and tell Roy that we've had a breach in security so that he can bring it to the attention of the proper officials."

"Great, politics. Just what we need, more bullshit to deal with."

"Hey, that so-called 'bullshit' of yours is part of our job, so don't knock it," Hughes scolded before he arched an eyebrow and gave Ethan a friendly grin. "You weren't all that great with the diplomatic process, were you?"

The younger man wrinkled his nose to show his disgust before he responded with a slight smirk. "What I know about diplomacy is that it's telling the other delegate to go to hell and making the trip sound fun."

"You really need to work on your delivery."

"I'll try. I was usually more occupied with not getting shot by some towel-wearing bastard looking forward to his seventy-two virgins than conveying my sarcastic comments to the prick and making them sound diplomatic."

"That wasn't blunt."

"Neither was that."

"Touché."

Ethan grinned slightly at Hughes as he followed the higher-ranking man out of his office before a thoughtful frown crossed his face. Someone out there, maybe even someone in the military, was looking for Annora, and he wanted to know who and why.

--

A couple blocks away from Central HQ, a lanky androgynous figure sat perched up on a roof and lounged with his back up against the brick chimney, his slit-pupil amethyst eyes scanning the words printed on the page in front of him. Envy frowned reflectively as he picked up the folder he had stolen from Hughes's office and paged absentmindedly through the other papers inside the military standard-issue manila folder. None of what he was seeing here was making any sense to him, and that alone was quite a feat.

Originally he had broken in to see if he could dig up any information on other State Alchemists interested in the Philosopher's Stone, and had stumbled across the folder labeled 'Thomas, Annora' inside one of the filing cabinets. He had taken it on impulse just to see what kind of dirt he could possibly dig up on the brat who had humiliated him so badly, only to find something far more serious and interesting.

"Name: Annora Thomas. Date of Birth: November 16th, 1899," Envy muttered before he frowned and rolled his eyes upwards. "Nothing interesting here. All this is is some stupid record of the mundane crap about that little bitch's…" the homunculus trailed off as he read the line below that, and a slight smirk crossed his face. "Place of birth: Flagstaff, United States of America. Additional note: Despite extensive searching on all existing maps, neither the city of Flagstaff nor the country of the United States can be found to actually exist. Ms. Thomas is quite fervent that she is from there, and refuses to accept any possibilities of a regional mistranslation in the name of her hometown. Possibility of her lying to hide her origins, except for the fact that **she** believes that she is telling the truth. Psychological analysis may be needed at a later time to determine why she feels the need to lie about her place of birth."

The Sin paused as he re-read the report that had been filed, as well as the information listed about her family. Apparently she had an older brother who she insisted was in the military, yet there was no record of him, as well as her parents who were supposedly in some country called 'China', which also did not exist. Envy assumed that the brother was the same one that she had talked about earlier, the one who was dead.

"Hmm… so the brat says that she's not from around here, eh?" the homunculus sneered before he let out an eerie chuckle. "Well that's a stretch. I wonder… maybe I can use this."

Envy smirked as he shoved the papers back into the file before he pulled out a box of matches and struck one on the side, causing the sulfur head to flare up in a blaze of light. Chuckling slightly, he held the burning match up to the bottom corner of the folder and waited until it had caught fire before he extinguished the match. The homunculus held the burning file folder in his hand until it had crumbled into ash, ignoring the pain from the flames as his flesh charred and healed at almost the same time.

Once the file was nothing more than blackened soot, Envy crushed it in his hand just to make certain that it was destroyed before he leapt off the rooftop and headed towards where Lust and Gluttony were staying. He had a plan, and if it worked… his Master would be extremely pleased.

--

Well, it looks like things have gone from confusing and frustrating to… pretty freaking scary. Envy has an idea as to where Annora's from now, and he's planning something. And meanwhile, Ethan's remembered something, but he's gone and forgotten it again right afterwards.

I hope that you're all not plotting to kill me for that nasty little cliffhanger… (laughs nervously). Then again, I probably have an entire mob heading to my house. Just please do me a favor and don't walk on the grass, otherwise my brother will have a shit fit since he just spent the last few days watering it and mowing it to make it look all nice. And if you feel the need to drag me out of my room, take off your shoes and leave them at the front door before you enter the house.

**Ed:** You are one sad person.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Well, I wouldn't have to lay down the rules for angry mobs coming to my house if **somebody** hadn't told them where I live.

**Ed:** Consider it payback for all the crap you've put me through.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** I'll tell you right now that anything you do to me will be returned with interest. How do you like them apples?

**Ed:** I hate you.

**Wandering Hitokiri:** Yes, we've been over that already. Go find something constructive to do, like entertain my little cousins or something. Those little brats are driving me up the wall, and I'm done with entertaining them.

**Ed:** Why?

**Wandering Hitokiri:** You **know** why, Elric. Hell, you were laughing your ass off when three of them tackled me demanding that I play with them. Anyways, I'm sorry for all of my reviewers for making them wait, but I was unexpectedly delayed since I had to make a trip all the way to Florida to attend a funeral for my grandmother. This is the first time in a week that I've been able to even think about touching a computer, and I'll be stuck here for another week helping my grandpa take care of some stuff. Sorry for any delays, but there's nothing that I can really do about it.

**Reviews:**

agent000: Thank you so very much for your input on the last chapter, and it made a lot of sense. I actually went back and deleted all of the song lyrics from the last chapter and re-submitted it to fix the flow of the chapter as you mentioned. As for Annora and Ethan figuring things out… that may take a while, but the situation will become less complicated in the near future, within the next few chapters or so, I promise ;).

anime.storm: I'm glad that you liked it. Friendship is about as far as things will go in between Ed and Annora for now, with maybe an itty-bitty bit of fluff thrown in every once and awhile. Ethan's memory loss is going to be a bit of a problem for a while, but hopefully things will work out.

Mei Fire: (Arches an eyebrow) You're gonna eat the chapter? If you're looking for fiber, that's the wrong place to get it. Not to mention the fact that if you want a sugar rush, actual cotton candy works so much better. Bad spelling is EVIL!!

Goldenfightergirl: You got that one right.

Cougerstar: Thank you very much. I know that it's hard to make a story be both serious and funny, but I wanted to make it realistic. Hence some of the extreme sarcasm on my part. (Hands **Cougerstar** a crowbar and a sledgehammer) I don't mind you hitting Envy, but I think that these will work a **lot** better on him than that canoe paddle. Have fun.

**Envy:** I am going to murder you for this.

HeeHeeHee01: Hughes did put two and two together, but he just didn't remember the name of Annora's older brother, which was part of the reason why he and Ethan were looking for that folder. Happy birthday by the way.

**Ed:** I AM **NOT** CUTE!! I WAS JUST TRYING TO GET HER TO STOP CRYING!!

SoundzofSilence: Yes, what Annora said earlier is one of the reasons why she didn't tackle Ethan before crying in relief and smacking him for making her think he was dead, mainly because it's a sign that she accepts that there is no force on earth that could possibly bring her brother back.

tiggeranddash: Ed was tricked, plain and simple. I'm glad that you liked the part with the camera.

MyDarkSideHasAWayOfHerOwn: I definitely agree with you on that one. Hmm… stabbing Envy with chopsticks… that's a new one.

**Envy:** Don't even think about it, you brat.

Shadowess 88: Wow, talk about dedication. I'm so glad that you enjoy my story that much. As for Annora's lack of payment to the Gate… that's one of those things that you won't really find out about until the end, and the reason behind Ethan's payment will come into play later on. Katie isn't stupid enough to send Annora yuri because she knows that Annora will do everything and anything to kill her as payback.

**Al:** Brother, what should I do with this sword?

**Ed:** Get rid of it before you hurt yourself. (Greed runs by and snatches the sword from Al's hands)

writingdreamer13: How can you read this if you're in the Funny Farm? As for the soldier who caught a glimpse of the Gate… he's just being treated for shell shock.

Lulu4ever: Nope, not gonna be the case.

Zilo Sugarpill: I'm pretty sure that my entire story is built on insanity at one point or another. Thank you so much for the awesome picture that you did of Envy offering Annora the chance to bring Ethan back… I love it! Yes, Envy the Grouch does indeed have a nice ring to it, despite a certain homunculus's opinions on the subject.

**Envy:** I hate you all. You're both going to pay in blood for this little stunt. And I'll stab **anyone** who even **thinks** about sealing me in a garbage truck.

Cantata: I'm very glad that you enjoy this story so much, and I hope that you like the later chapters as much as you like the earlier ones. As for the humor, it's more sarcasm than anything. Happy reading!

richard9311: (Smirks) I like throwing people for a loop every now and then. Plot twists are a lot of fun.


	22. Chapter 21: Reality Crumbles

"If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream." – Rene Magrite

**Chapter Twenty-One:**

**Reality Crumbles**

_Annora couldn't help but attempt to repress a shudder as she looked around her warily, surveying the darkness filling the room around her. Somehow, she just knew that she was in the same place where the Gate haunted her._

"_Bugger all," she grumbled as she rubbed her arms in an attempt to ward off the chill that crept over her, which ironically had absolutely nothing to do with the temperature of the room. This place gave her the worst case of the creeps ever, and it was all she could do to keep herself from running away yammering like a ninny._

"_You seem a little weirded out there," a familiar voice remarked from somewhere behind her, a faint hint of humor touching his tone. "Are you gonna be okay, or are you gonna freak out on me?"_

"_Shut up, Ed," Annora growled automatically as she turned around to face the alchemist, fist at ready to wallop him a good one before she stopped. Shock flickered across her face as realization hit her, and she immediately took a step backwards to distance herself from the thing disguised as her friend._

"_You're not him," she accused, chocolate eyes narrowed as she glared at the Gate creature that had the gall to assume her friend's form. 'Ed' sighed as he ran a hand through his golden bangs, a wry smile on his face._

"_I should have known," he chuckled as he shook his head. "You've gotten a lot more paranoid since you first arrived here."_

"_Well gee, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I've had several encounters with someone who can change shape at will, and __**won't**__ die?" the sixteen-year old asked sarcastically as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the Gate child. He arched an eyebrow slightly at this and gave an odd little half-smile before he shrugged. Annora frowned at the thing's somewhat dismissive response as she glowered at him. She was more than fed up with all of the crap that she had been put through lately, and she was sick and tired of having all of these stupid nightmares about something that seemed to exist only in her dreams._

"_Listen here you, I want to know why the hell I keep dreaming about this place," she growled, her patience for anything out of the normal dangerously low. "I want to know why I'm even here in Amestris, and why you keep talking about me not giving you any payment for something that I know absolutely nothing about!"_

_The fake 'Ed' just kind of looked at her for a little bit before he gave a slight disbelieving frown._

"_Are you saying that you truly know none of this?" he asked quietly before he let out a short, sardonic laugh. "Oh little girl, you have no idea of the seriousness of the situation, do you?"_

"_I'm not little," Annora muttered rebelliously as she straightened up to her full height, making sure that the Gate spawn could see that she was obviously taller than him. He merely arched an eyebrow at her action before the corner of his mouth twitched up into a knowing smirk._

"_I say that you are little because you have not even lived a __**fraction**__ of one of my lifetimes, and your childish ignorance is somewhat amusing to me. Even your little alchemist friend knows more about the world as it really is than you do, although he himself still clings to several childish notions."_

"_Arrogant bastard."_

"_That depends merely on your perspective."_

"_I think I already gave you that."_

_The Gate creature looked at the girl for a few moments before he directed his gaze upwards towards the black vault of the ceiling that hung overhead. Almost immediately, the flat darkness changed into something that Annora recognized with crystal clarity, and she felt a thrill of fear run down her spine as she stared up at the starry night sky that had replaced the unending blackness from earlier._

"_Can you tell me what is it we're looking for? Why do we feel tethered by our physical limits?" 'Ed' asked suddenly, startling the teenager as he kept his eyes locked on the miniscule points of light above him. "Why do we have dreams? Why do we look searchingly towards the stars…?"_

"_Because… there's got to be more… to what we're already seeing than what there is…" Annora answered hesitantly, chancing a glance up at the stars before she looked uneasily at the Gate being. "There's always something important that we don't notice until it's too late."_

_The creature wearing her friend's form chuckled suddenly as he turned around to face her, golden eyes twinkling slightly at her answer._

"_Well there you go, there's your answer," he stated calmly with a faint smug look painted on his face. "Very good, Annora Thomas. I see that you've actually learned something during your time here."_

"_Wait, my answer to __**what**__?" the sixteen-year old demanded, a confused scowl crossing her features. "I don't know what you're talking about."_

"_You wanted to know why you ended up here, and what you just said was your answer. There are things in this world, and in every other one as well, that people don't notice until their eyes have been opened to it. You are one of the few, and lucky ones, who have been selected by chance… or perhaps even fate, to experience something more than what the rest of your world can claim. As for how you were transported here… a mere hole in time and space, appearing and disappearing whenever it needs to, was what resulted in your arrival."_

_Annora went white at this, her brown eyes widening in disbelief as she reached up and clenched the object that hung around her neck on a silver chain desperately._

"_Are you talking about… a wormhole?" she asked faintly, a faint tremor of fear in her voice._

"_Precisely."_

"_So… I didn't come here through you?"_

"_No."_

_The teenager stared at him for several long moments, her face pale with fright at the implications of what the Gate creature had just told her._

"_Then what… what about my payment?" she finally managed to ask. 'Ed' gave her a toothy smile that sent a chill down her spine, especially when she noticed that his teeth were pointy like Envy and Greed's were._

"_Why that would be what you value most," he said, a slight sneer in his voice. "What you hold the most dear in your heart, whether it be a payment of flesh… or something else entirely. Like your memories of your family for instance… or any memory of your life from who you were before you entered Amestris."_

_Annora took several steps back at this statement, doing everything in her power to keep herself from running away screaming. The false alchemist noticed her unease and smirked, his golden eyes glinting dimly in the faint light._

"_Or, you could never be able to see your friends again."_

_The teenager froze at this, even though her brain was currently shrieking 'danger' at her._

"_Which friends?" she asked cautiously, suspicion flickering across her face as she stared seriously at what currently looked like the boy that she now saw as her friend. The Gate child arched a golden eyebrow before his lips curled upwards into a slow, mocking smile. Annora felt a thrill of panic surge into her system before she allowed herself to say anything else._

"_What friends?" she demanded again, only to receive no answer. The teenager opened her mouth to repeat herself, only for the bleak landscape that she was currently trapped in start to break up._

"_Just remember this," 'Ed' told her knowingly before he too disappeared along with the rest of the landscape. "Even your so-called reality crumbles."_

It was at that point that Annora jerked awake in her bed, her chest heaving as she tried to suck in deep breaths of air to reassure herself that she was alright. Once she had calmed down, she spent quite some time staring uneasily into the surrounding darkness of her room before she was finally able to fall back asleep.

--

"Hey, Annora, are you alright?"

No response.

"Hello, is anyone home in there?"

Annora frowned slightly as she pushed her food about her plate, trying vainly to block out the overwhelming noise echoing in the mess hall. She hadn't slept very well after her last little dream involving the Gate and whatever the hell lived inside of it, and as a result she was dead tired.

"Earth to Annora Thomas. Is anyone alive in there?"

The teenager ignored Ed's sarcasm as she continued to methodically eat the hash browns soaked in gravy in front of her, her eyes held blearily at half-mast. She didn't even blink as the alchemist suddenly waved his automail hand in front of her face, but she did hold her fork up in a threatening manner.

"Ed, if you keep asking me stupid questions, I swear to God I'll stick this in some place that you **really** don't want me to put it," she growled before she let out a sigh and continued eating. "Just leave me alone right now, I'm really tired."

Ed blinked and stared at her with impossibly wide eyes before he noticeably crossed his legs and scooted several inches away from her with a strangled 'eep!'. Annora muttered an annoyed curse under her breath as she jabbed her fork into her food and left it standing there before running a hand through her bangs and giving her friend a warning glare out of the corner of her eye.

"I didn't mean there!" she snapped before she stabbed at her food mutinously, fixing her disgruntled glare on the unfortunate plate in front of her. "I meant like in the elbow joint of your automail or something."

"And how is that supposed to make me feel better?" Ed shot back. Annora just rolled her eyes upwards and groaned before she let her head fall down on the table with a dull 'thunk', silently wishing that she could just fall asleep right then and there.

Instead, she felt an unfamiliar liquid warmth seep into her underwear.

The sixteen-year old immediately jerked upright and looked down at her lap to see if she had spilled anything, only to find that there was nothing there.

'_Oh no… you have got to be __**shitting**__ me,'_ she realized in stunned horror, her eyes widening as she silently mouthed a curse. _'Not now. Of all times to happen, not now.'_

Ignoring Ed and Al's questions at her odd expression, she shoved her plate at the older Elric as she got to her feet. She needed to find someplace private, and **fast**.

"Hey Annora, where are you going?" Ed queried. The girl barely even glanced over her shoulder as she headed towards the door leading out of the mess hall.

"Look, I'll just meet up with you guys later, okay?" she said as she quickened her pace and went out the door, and then outright bolted once she was in the hallway. Quickly the teenager made her way to the closest ladies room and ran into one of the stalls. With shaking hands she unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down, looking down at her underwear in the process.

There, right in the middle, was a large crimson stain.

"Son of a bitch!!" Annora hissed shakily as she sat down on the toilet, her hands trembling slightly as she used toilet paper to blot away the worst of the blood. Why the hell did she have to have her first period now?! Here she was stuck in another world with no idea what to use to sop up the blood, and no one to ask for help.

"Oh god, what am I gonna do?" the teenager muttered quietly. She couldn't remember a single word of the Sex Ed classes that her gym teachers had given every damn year in junior high, and asking her mom for help was impossible. Her mother may have only been in China, but she might as well be on the moon for all the help she could give.

Wait a second… maybe there was a woman she could ask for help.

Not even five minutes later, Annora found herself standing outside of the work area where Mustang's office was, silently wishing that she didn't have to be here. The wooden door to Mustang's office was closed, and she could hear someone ranting angrily before a rapid round of gunshots cut him off.

'_Great, Hawkeye's busy babysitting the Colonel,'_ she realized as she winced inwardly. _'I'm so completely screwed now.'_

"Hey Annora, what do you need?" Havoc asked as he came up behind the teenager, causing her to jump about a foot in the air before she spun around to face the Second Lieutenant.

"Oh! Umm… umm… ah," she stammered nervously before she forced herself to get a grip. "Well, I need to talk to the Lieutenant, but I noticed that she's kind of busy right now…"

"Is this something that you can tell someone else about, or do you need the Lieutenant specifically?" Havoc asked. Annora shuffled her feet as she grimaced slightly at the prospect, and smiled apologetically at the older man.

"Actually, it's something that I need to tell the Lieutenant."

"Can it wait?"

"Umm… not really."

Havoc let out a resigned sigh as he reached up and ran a hand through his sandy hair before he turned around and headed for Mustang's office, chewing on his ever-present cigarette pensively. Pausing momentarily in front of the large wooden door, the chain-smoker rapped his knuckles sharply on the surface before he opened it and stuck his head into the office. After speaking quietly for a few moments, he was motioned into the office by Hawkeye, who instructed him with something before heading towards Annora.

"Havoc said that you needed to talk to me," she stated matter-of-factly, fixing the sixteen-year old with a serious gaze. Annora fidgeted slightly as she looked up at the older woman, slightly hesitant about what she needed to ask.

"Well… umm, I kind of had something happen, and I need your help," she began nervously, and at Hawkeye's inquiring look she managed to summon up the courage to say what had happened. "I… I just had my period."

The sharpshooter looked at her oddly before an idea seemed to strike her. "Your first?"

Annora nodded as her cheeks flamed a brilliant red from humiliation. "Yeah."

"I can see why you didn't want to wait."

"Uh-huh. Normally I would have gone straight to my mom, but…"

"She's not here," Hawkeye finished kindly as she gave the teenager a sympathetic look. "I see your problem now. But aren't you a little old to be having your first one?"

"My mom told me that she didn't have her first one until she was almost sixteen, so she was pretty late too, but…" the sixteen-year old trailed off as she gave the older woman a pleading look. "If I still hadn't had one by the time she and my dad got back they were going to take me to the doctor to see if something's wrong."

Hawkeye nodded in understanding before she cast a considering glance over her shoulder at Mustang's office.

"I think that we should probably take this conversation elsewhere, seeing as the Colonel doesn't need to hear it," she stated before she gave a small sigh. "We should probably inform Fullmetal, as well as the Colonel, that I'll be taking you with me, and that we could be gone for quite a while."

"Thank you so much Miss Hawkeye."

"Don't worry about it. So, why don't you start off by telling me what you do know about having your period and I'll try to fill in the blanks."

"Why am I bleeding like this? And when will it go away?"

"Oh boy…"

--

**Later that day**

--

Annora muttered several incredibly foul curses under her breath as she stalked down the hallway towards the ladies room, having just gotten back from the emergency shopping trip that Hawkeye had taken her on, and now armed with several pairs of black underwear with very thick cotton padding sewn into the lining of the undergarment to soak up the blood that was currently leaking from her body. The older woman had also explained to her that this _**lovely**_ experience would be repeated every month until she either got pregnant, or hit menopause. Not to mention the mood swings or crying fits that might come with said period.

Oh the joys of being a woman.

"Every month, I can't believe that this will happen to me every freaking month!" the sixteen-year old growled as she rounded a corner, only to freeze in her tracks as a familiar laconic voice called out behind her.

"Up to more devilry Miss Thomas?"

Annora spun around to see Mustang leaning up against the wall, his dark eyes watchful. The teenager fought the immense urge to roll her eyes as she shot the older man a dirty look.

"No, actually I'm going to use the bathroom," she drawled sarcastically as she arched an eyebrow, her expression slightly sour. "So unless you **really** want to study the personal hygiene of a sixteen-year old girl… and consequently have your subordinates think that you're a cradle-robber as well as a lecher, buzz off…" the teenager paused for a moment before her eyes widened and she looked at the Colonel in shock. "Holy crap, I just sounded like you!"

"Critical, deprecating, and witty? Yes I believe you did," Mustang commented wryly.

"Okay, now that's just plain creepy. I think hell's gonna freeze over now."

"You just ruined that moment by spouting your usual teenage idiocy."

Annora frowned slightly as a thoughtful look crossed her face before she responded, and as she did so a slight smile twitched about her lips.

"Critical and deprecating I agree with, but witty? Whoever said you were witty must have been denied true humor their whole life."

"Such as yourself?"

"Ha hah, so not funny," the sixteen-year old muttered with a roll of her eyes. "I don't think you would know a joke even if it danced in front of you naked."

"That would depend solely on whether or not this theoretical 'joke' had body parts that were aesthetically pleasing," the older man commented with a slight smirk, giving the teen cause to slap her forehead in annoyance.

"God you're disgusting," she groaned as she fixed Mustang with a revolted glare. "I'm going to pretend that you just didn't say that. Besides, I was thinking more along the lines of my older brother having been deprived of humor."

(Unbeknownst to them, Ethan suddenly sneezed violently out in the main office while at his desk before wiping at his nose and going back to his paperwork.)

The Colonel arched a dark eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest, fixing the girl with a scrutinizing glower as he made a low noise in the back of his throat.

"I do believe that Satan himself would run pissing in terror from that viper temper of yours," he said finally. "It happens to be quite unbecoming for a young lady such as yourself."

"Then why are you still here?" Annora shot back. "Not to mention why are you talking about yourself in third person?"

Mustang's jaw dropped at her implications, and the teenager just decided that it was probably best to walk away and ignore him. She hadn't come here to get into a verbal spat with the Colonel, as fun as that may be. Although, it was still pretty funny to throw him for a loop every now and then.

"You know, if you want to get in a pissing match Colonel, you'd better bring an umbrella," she called out over her shoulder at the stunned man with a smirk on her face before she entered the women's bathroom. Just before the door swung closed she heard him start ranting about how he was not a wet match. Obviously he had caught the hidden barb in that particular comment.

'_Screwing with Mustang's mind should be an Olympic sport,'_ Annora thought with a soft chuckle._ 'Both Ed and I would be winning gold medals every day.'_

--

"Hey, where were you today?" Ed asked as he and Al started picking up the books that they had been using. Annora looked up from where she was kneeling down on the floor, mopping up Twilight's newest 'accident', and frowned slightly.

"I was with Hawkeye," she stated simply, returning to the mess that she had been cleaning up. Ed arched an eyebrow as he looked over at the large brown paper bag that the sixteen-year old had brought back with her before he leaned over and picked it up off the table.

"If you were with the First Lieutenant, then why did you bring this with you?" he asked as he started to unfold the top. Annora's head immediately jerked up at the sound of crinkling paper, and her eyes widened in horror before she shot to her feet and snatched the bag from her friend's grasp.

"Don't open that!!" she snapped angrily as she held her hidden period supplies away from the teenage alchemist. Ed looked startled as he stared at the other teen as though she had just arrived from another planet.

"What the hell is up with you?" he finally asked, a faint scowl creeping across his mouth. "It's just a paper bag… unless you're hiding something from us."

"It's none of your business Ed!!" Annora growled as she hugged the paper bag close to her chest. "Geez, can't I have **any** privacy?!"

Ed opened his mouth to say something nasty, only to be interrupted by Al as the younger Elric stepped in between the two teens.

"Brother, if Annora has something that she doesn't want you to see, you should just leave her alone," the fifteen-year old chided. Ed's face slowly flushed an angry shade of red as he sputtered incoherently at his younger brother while Annora ignored him and stuffed her supplies in her backpack, where hopefully they would be safe from prying eyes. After waiting for the girl to clip on Twilight's leash, the three teens left Central HQ.

The walk back to the townhouse was quiet, with Ed trailing along slightly behind Annora and Al as he fumed silently under his breath. It was unfair in his opinion for Al, his own brother, to side with Annora on not letting him see what was in her bag. She was the one living with them, so she shouldn't be keeping secrets from them!

By the time they reached the townhouse, the Fullmetal Alchemist had made up his mind that he was going to see what the teenager was hiding from him, no matter what the cost.

His opportunity came when Annora took off her backpack and left it in the front hallway before going upstairs to use the bathroom and leave her jacket and sweater in her bedroom. Ed waited for a few moments to make sure that she wasn't coming back before he slowly unzipped the compartment that Annora had put the bag in, taking great pains not to be heard. He had just finished pulling the paper bag out and was preparing to open up the top when…

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!"

Ed involuntarily let out a yelp as he dropped the bag and looked up to see Annora standing on the landing halfway down the stairs, annoyance evident on her face. That annoyance was soon replaced by fear… and surprisingly, embarrassment, as the teenager turned a very nasty shade of white, her eyes riveted down on the contents of the bag that had spilled out when Ed had dropped it.

The teenage alchemist looked down at the several somewhat bulky pairs of black underwear that lay strewn about by his feet and felt an ashamed blush bloom across his face as Annora quickly went down the remaining stairs and wordlessly swept all of the undergarments back into the bag. She refused to look at Ed as she grabbed her backpack and threw it over her shoulder before she practically sprinted back up the stairs with the bag in hand, and the sound of her door slamming shut reverberated throughout the entire house.

Ed stood there for several seconds, feeling like a total ass, before Al came in from the backyard where he had been out playing with Twilight. The possessed suit of armor noticed that his sibling was standing by the stairs with a guilty look on his face, and immediately suspected that something was up.

"Brother, what happened?" he asked as he approached the young alchemist. Ed grimaced as he turned around to face Al, silently wishing that he hadn't been so impulsive.

"... Annora's going to kill me," he said quietly.

"Why?"

"You don't want to know."

--

Annora felt like screaming as she buried her head in her pillow, her hands shaking as what had happened downstairs kept replaying in her mind's eye like some perverse clip from a horror film.

What in the hell had possessed Ed to go through her backpack when she had specifically told him not to?!

The sixteen-year old let out a low moan of aggravation and humiliation as she pressed her pillow closer to her face, the thick stuffing of the pillow muffling the sound significantly. Right now all she wanted to do was just stay up here in her room and hide until the apocalypse came to town. Maybe by then she wouldn't feel like she was about to die from mortification.

It took a while, but the teenager slowly calmed down as she lay there on her bed, and after a while she fell asleep. She must have been out for at least an hour or so when she was suddenly jerked awake by someone knocking on her door.

"Hey Annora, dinner's ready," Al said quietly from the other side of the door. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she stretched out a bit, wiping the gunk out of her eyes as she sat up. "I'll be down in a minute."

The sixteen-year old waited until she heard the animated suit of armor's footsteps recede down the hall before she got out of her bed and grabbed her brush from the bedside table, running it swiftly through her sleep-tousled hair. She may have calmed down a bit after Ed's little escapade this afternoon, but she was still far from happy with the alchemist.

Annora let out a frustrated sigh as she set her brush down and left her room, padding down the stairs quietly in her stockinged feet before she entered the kitchen. Once she saw what was on the table she froze in her tracks, her eyes wide in disbelief. Seeing the look on her face, Ed let out a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You cooked?" she asked hesitantly as she took a seat, eyeing the plate of spaghetti and sliced up sausage in front of her dubiously.

"Well, you cook dinner pretty much every time that we're here, so it seems fair that I should take a turn every once in a while," Ed admitted sheepishly. "Besides, you were asleep. It seemed kind of rude to wake you up."

Annora arched an eyebrow as she looked at her friend suspiciously, and the teenage alchemist could tell that she was probably thinking something along the lines of _'and you're trying to do something nice to apologize for this afternoon'_ as she stared at him. The girl turned her gaze down to the plate of spaghetti in front of her, and the corner of her mouth quirked up into a small smile as she took a precautionary sniff.

"Well, it definitely smells good," she admitted. Ed grinned as he speared a chunk of sausage and wrapped some spaghetti around his fork before stuffing it in his mouth. Annora had done pretty much the same thing, and not noticing the odd look on her friend's face, put the food in her mouth.

Almost immediately she realized her mistake as a foul taste spread across her tongue, and the teenager had to force herself to swallow. Her eyes watering at the vile flavor that her mouth had just been forced to endure, she pushed her plate away from her before she looked across the table and found that Ed was having similar problems.

"What the hell did you put in this?" she finally sputtered as she reached for her water glass and drank as much as she could in an attempt to wash out her mouth.

"I followed the recipe on the back of the box!" Ed protested. Al looked in between the two teens before he silently decided that it was probably a good thing that he couldn't eat at the moment.

"Ed, that tasted like you put week-old roadkill in the sauce," Annora grumbled mutinously, her lips pursed together thinly as she eyed her plate suspiciously. "Okay, new rule. Ed, you are no longer allowed anywhere near the kitchen while I'm cooking."

"What?! Why?!" the alchemist protested as he glared at the girl, who merely arched an eyebrow challengingly as she stared levelly back at him.

"Because you'll probably poison us all," she stated matter-of-factly as she gave a slight roll of her eyes and stood up, pointedly ignoring her friend's loudly sputtered protests. "Anyways, nor are you to attempt to cook in the event that I cannot. Now excuse me while I go sacrifice this spaghetti to the garbage disposal before it jumps off my plate and tries to eat my face off."

Al chuckled softly at the older girl's statement as she left to go scrape off the contents of her plate into the sink, only to be silenced by a nasty glare that Ed shot in his direction before he too left to dispose of his evil concoction.

"Alright, who's up for pizza?" Annora asked after she and Ed made sure that they had killed the evil that the Fullmetal Alchemist had created in the kitchen, as well as prevented its return by thoroughly scrubbing the pots that he had used to make the mockery of food that they had mistakenly consumed.

Given the circumstances, it was hardly surprising that an hour later the three teens were seated at a nearby restaurant ordering dinner.

--

Ethan sat slumped over at his desk, eyeing the stack of documents that still needed to be signed before he could get rid of them with obvious abhorrence. He had never given it much thought before, but now he was absolutely positive that he hated, loathed, and **despised** paperwork in any way, shape, or form. Mumbling a few creative curses under his breath, the twenty-year old slowly resumed signing the dreaded files.

Havoc apparently heard some of his grumbled threats, because he started laughing as he looked over at the younger man from his desk.

"Is it that bad today?" the chain-smoker asked, and grinned as Ethan pulled a face at the little mound of paperwork before him.

"I just never thought that being in the military would mean that I'd have to be a desk jockey," he muttered sourly as he shoved the stack of papers away from him. "I thought that there would be more… y'know, action."

"Well when Scar was running amuck in Central and East City last year, things were plenty interesting," Havoc commented as he took a long drag on his cigarette, his expression pensive. "Between protecting the Colonel, and Fullmetal, all of us got to see some action. Not to mention the past three months have been a little more interesting too, ever since that girl Annora arrived."

Ethan blinked a couple of times in surprise before he forced himself to ask a question that probably wasn't too discrete. "Okay, who the hell is Sca-"

It was at that moment that the hallway door burst open, and a fairly large man came in while laughing a deep, booming laugh as he spoke, causing Havoc, Fuery, and Falman all to bolt up from their chairs and run screaming around the room like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off.

"Gentlemen, I wish to welcome you to this wonderful establishment!!" the man boomed out loudly, and Ethan could clearly see an assortment of pink sparkles attached to wires on his uniform springing out around him, as well as a hideous blonde wig plastered to his head, along with an equally hideous mustache. "This method of welcoming new soldiers has been-!"

Havoc, at one point or another, had skidded to a stop as he noticed something off about the mustachioed man, and his blue eyes narrowed as he stalked up to the man and cut him off with one quick smack across the face.

SLAP!

"You know, you've got a real sick sense of humor Breda," the chain-smoker drawled as he leveled a dirty look at the usually red-haired soldier, who gave an unashamed grin as he started pulling off his costume.

"Hey, you've got to be prepared around here," Breda said, noticing Ethan's confused look as he stared at the older soldiers like they had all lost their minds. "You never know when the Major's going to strike. Today's Armstrong drill will now cost you about 100 sen each."

"Not likely," Falman said as he too came over and slapped Breda upside the head.

"Who the hell is Major Armstrong?" Ethan finally asked as he arched an eyebrow questioningly. "Not to mention why would you do a drill about him coming in here?"

"Well, you see… the Major's a bit… eccentric, I guess you could say," Havoc admitted as he rubbed a hand up against the back of his head. "He's a great commanding officer, but…"

"He's a little out there," Ethan finished bluntly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You got that one right. Kid, the best advice we can give you is that if you see the Major, run," Breda said seriously. The Private opened his mouth to say something just as a giant of a man entered the room from the hallway, and everyone in the room froze.

"Hello gentlemen, is the Colonel here?" the almost completely bald man boomed, and Ethan felt his heart drop straight down into the pit of his stomach as he saw pink sparkles dance around the man's head.

"He's not here right now, sir," Fuery stated hesitantly as he stared up at the gleaming behemoth, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Armstrong gave a tuneless grunt of ascent as he turned around to head back out the door, only for his eyes to land on Ethan's tousle-haired form as the young man suddenly became the very picture of efficiency.

"Ah, I see that you have a new addition here," the Major stated as he looked at Ethan, who started to sweat nervously as he kept his head down, scribbling his signature frantically down onto the paperwork before him.

"Yeah, Private Thomas just started here three weeks ago," Havoc stated calmly, even though he noticed that the younger man flinched slightly at the mention of his name and proceeded to hunker down even further in his seat.

Unfortunately this didn't save Ethan in the least as he found himself suddenly hauled out of his chair and held aloft by an impossibly muscular arm before he was pressed up against a set of bare pecs that could have doubled as a weapon of mass destruction… self-destruction that is.

'_How the hell did he get his shirt off so fast?'_ the private wondered dazedly as Armstrong loudly burst into tears.

"AH, I FEEL SO HONORED TO WELCOME YOU INTO THIS FINE INSTITIUTE OF MILITARY LEARNING, YOUNG MASTER THOMAS!!" the giant man boomed, nearly deafening Ethan, and everyone else in the room, in the process. "I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT MY COLLEGUES AND MYSELF CAN GUIDE YOU IN THE PROPER WAY TO SERVE OUR STATE GRACEFULLY AND LOYALLY, SHAPING YOUR FINE CAREER AS A SOLDIER!! I FEEL SO MOVED TO BE REWARDED WITH THIS WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY!!"

"Yeah, well I'd be incredibly moved if you stopped crushing me to death," the twenty-year old gasped weakly. Unfortunately for him, the Major seemed to be temporarily deaf to anything but his own proclamations.

"FEEL THESE MAGNIFICENT MUSCLES, HOW THEY PULSE WITH LOYALTY FOR OUR FINE COUNTRY!! THIS TRULY ELEGANT TECHNIQUE FOR INSPIRING LOYALTY IN OUR NEW RECRUITS HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS!!"

"Uh Major, I think Eric's turning a little blue there," Fuery pointed out tentatively, indicating to the younger man, who looked like his soul was currently trying to crawl out his mouth in an attempt to escape Armstrong. The massive man immediately dropped Ethan's limp form, and it took a few moments for the twenty-year old to stagger to his feet, looking decidedly green around the gills.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT YOUNG MAN?!" the Strong Arm Alchemist asked as he looked at the downed man. Ethan cringed at the giant's booming voice, but forced a strained smile onto his face as he craned his neck to look up into Armstrong's face.

"Yeah, just peachy," he muttered as he reached out and started to rub ruefully at his horribly abused spine. Armstrong stayed behind a little bit to spout off some more junk about different things being passed down 'through the Armstrong family for generations' before he finally left, fortunately closing the door behind him.

Ethan stayed standing in the spot that Armstrong had dumped him in for a few more moments to make sure that the large man wasn't coming back before he whirled around and grabbed Breda, who was unfortunately the one closest to him, by the front of his uniform, pulling the Second Lieutenant up close to his face.

"Don't you **ever** do that to me again!!" he snarled furiously, a slightly less than sane look in his eyes as he glared menacingly at the stout redhead, his hand fisted tightly into the older man's uniform.

Havoc and Falman both started to snicker at the twenty-year old's obvious discomfort, only for the younger man to whip around and glower at them with a wild look in his hazel-green eyes.

"Shut up Havoc!!" he raged, baring his teeth in a purely animalistic gesture. "You too Falman!! I know where both of you sleep!!"

This only caused the two higher-ranking soldiers to laugh even harder, Havoc clutching his stomach as he tried not to wet his pants while howling with laughter, while Fuery just looked on uneasily as 'Eric' slowly turned an unhealthy shade of red. He had a rather bad feeling about this…

--

The next morning everybody was surprised to find that First Lieutenant Jean Havoc and Warrant Officer Vato Falman were both tied to a set of wooden poles standing out in the middle of the snowy parade ground in nothing but their underwear, and liberally covered in what appeared to be barbeque sauce and feathers.

Colonel Roy Mustang nearly wet himself laughing when he caught sight of his two shamefaced subordinates, and promptly went to fetch Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes and his ever-present camera in order to capture the event, as well as preserve its memory.

Not too long after this, Fuhrer Bradley came out of his office to see what all the fuss was about, and promptly feel over laughing. The two men were soon released once the MP's had elbowed their way through, and were rather unsuccessfully accused of trying to kill the Fuhrer by making him laugh himself to death, before they were finally released so they could put some actual clothes on.

--

Heh, now we all know where Annora's perverse sense of humor came from. Of course Ethan would deny all accusations…

Sorry this took so long to get out, but I've been kind of busy. And now with the evil that we all know as 'school' is just around the corner, well I'm slightly pressed for time. So I'm going to post the next chapter either tomorrow or the day after since I got it all typed up, and that way you guys get more than usual.

My thanks to **HeeHeeHee01**, **FreeCream**, **anime.storm**, **richard9311**, **Cantata**, **Zilo Sugarpill**, **Lulu4ever**, **writingdreamer13**, **Shadowess 88**, **MyDarkSideHasAWayOfHerOwn**, **tiggeranddash**, **Mei Fire**, **agent000**, **DoIMakeMyselfClear**, **arbl**, **White Alchemist Taya**, **Phantom SunsSong**, **Pawz4thought**, **elena 21**, and **Awelsomes** for all reviewing on the last chapter.

See you all the next chapter!

Addition: Whoops, I forgot to put a little mention here on Annora's comments to Mustang earlier. The 'Critical, deprecating, and witty?' part was a play on a scene from fabula-propono's truly excellent Harry Potter fanfic "Living A Legend", which is one of the few Harry Potter fanfics out there that is actually good. Sorry for forgetting that bit. I was kind of in a hurry last night typing this chapter up and trying to post it before it got too late, and I forgot to put this mention down. Thank you **auPHE** for ponting that out to me.


	23. Chapter 22: The Last Time

My thanks to all of my reviewers, who have all been a great inspiration to me. Thank you for taking the time from the beginning to read this story, and I hope that you have all enjoyed it to its fullest.

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." - Isaac Asimov

**Chapter Twenty-Two:**

**The Last Time**

"Annora, why is your dog sitting on my foot?"

Annora looked up from the book that she was reading and stared at her friend, arching an eyebrow in question before she went and peered under the table that she, Ed and Al were all sitting at. She stared at the blissfully napping Twilight before she looked back up at Ed with a slight glint of mischief in her eyes.

"I don't know, maybe you have comfy feet," she joked, causing the alchemist to roll his eyes in exasperation as he shifted his feet in an effort to dislodge the dog. Instead, Twilight just slumbered obliviously on, not even twitching in her sleep.

"She sleeps like a log," Ed grumbled as he finally managed to slide his foot out from underneath the young Collie, wincing slightly as his foot tingled. "And she weighs a ton."

"Brother, anything that falls asleep on you weighs a ton," Al said with a slight chuckle, causing the older Elric to give him a supremely dirty look. Annora grinned and shook her head before she returned her attention to the alchemy book that she was currently browsing through for a few seconds before she decided that the current line of conversation was more interesting.

"So have you ever told Winry this?" the girl asked with an evil grin. "I'm pretty sure that she'd have her own opinions-"

"NO!!" Ed shouted, his eyes wide in panic as he cut Annora off. "Don't **even** go there!"

"Do I detect a hint of panic in your voice?" the sixteen-year old asked slyly as Ed glowered at her.

"More like flat-out terror," the alchemist grumbled darkly as he shot the other teen a warning look. "That's not funny Annora."

"I though it was."

"Well I didn't. Even I know that you don't say something like that to a girl, not unless you have a death wish. Winry would **kill** me."

"Nice to know that you at least have _some_ common sense."

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"Annora, Brother, do you have to turn everything into a fight?" Alphonse asked nervously, to which Annora gave him a crooked grin while Ed crossed his arms over his chest and gave a huff of annoyance.

"Sorry Al, but it's just too much fun to yank his chain sometimes," the girl admitted with a shrug, making no attempt to conceal the smile on her face. "Annoying; it's not just for Mustang anymore."

The possessed suit of armor just shook his head and sighed as Annora went back to her book, and caught a glimpse of her watch in the process. The teenager stared at the time for a few moments before she let out a low whistle of surprise.

"Whoa, it's already after one," she muttered as she looked up at Ed, who gave her a suspicious look. "Hey, do you guys want me to run down to the mess hall and grab something for lunch before the kitchens close and bring it up here, that way we don't have to take a break?"

Ed opened his mouth to say something, only to have his stomach let out a loud rumble. The alchemist frowned as he glared down at his stomach before he looked up at Annora, who was trying her best not to smile.

"Anything's good, just as long as you don't try and get me any milk," he grumbled as he returned to his reading.

"So you want a sandwich and a big frothy glass of milk. Okay, I got it," she said with a grin, only to have Ed blow up in her face.

"I said no milk!! That crap tastes like vomit!!"

"Gee, thanks for ruining it for the rest of us who actually **like** it."

"Why the hell would anyone **want** to drink an opaque white liquid that was secreted by a cow?! It's disgusting!"

"Milk's loaded with vitamins you ninny, which is why you drink it. And you wonder why you're so damn short."

"Who did you say was a super-ultra short kid?!" Ed raged as he tried to lunge for Annora over the back of his chair, only for it to tip over and land on the floor with a loud 'crash', as well as dumping the alchemist flat on his face. The teenager decided to make herself scarce before Ed could recover, and headed down the hallway towards the stairs, which would eventually lead to the kitchens.

As she left behind the commotion ensuing in the room as Al attempted to keep his brother from going ballistic, Annora couldn't help but smile fondly at her friends actions. It was so odd to think that three months ago she had been completely oblivious to this world, and when she had first met Ed she never in a million years would have thought that they would end up being friends.

"I wonder how Katie's doing?" she mused suddenly, and shame flooded through her as her thoughts drifted towards her anime-obsessed friend.

When had she stopped thinking about what Katie, and all of her other friends at school, were doing? When had she become more focused on what Ed and Al were planning, and their frequent trips out in search of the Philosopher's Stone? When had she started to discard the tattered shreds of who she had been at school, Annora Thomas, the resident tomboy and smart mouth, in favor of accepting the foreign concepts of being in Amestris and alchemy?

"I've changed," she realized as she gave a short, harsh laugh, a wry smile crossing her face. "I've changed a lot."

Annora let out a slow sigh as she ran a hand through her hair, a faint shadow crossing over her face as she did so. She had grown up a lot in these past few months, and it was only now that she was beginning to realize it.

The person she had been three months ago didn't know how to fight homunculi while using alchemy combined with kicks and punches, nor did she know how to push Mustang's buttons just right to get him to go ballistic. She had never been chased through the city by a meat-cleaver wielding serial murder encased in a suit of armor, nor had she ever been kidnapped. The girl she used to be still had an older brother, and was naive enough to think that things would go on unchanging forever, and that no one she cared about would die.

"Ed's right," she muttered as she rounded a corner, not noticing the person up ahead in the hallway. "Growing up sucks."

The sixteen-year old sighed as she looked up, and her eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of Ed walking down the hallway away from her, a stack of files tucked underneath his arm.

'_Wait a second, I just left Ed behind with Al in the research room,'_ Annora thought with a frown before realization hit her. There was no way that Ed could have left the room, gone to the file room on the other side of the building, and be headed back before she had even made it to the stairs.

"Envy," the teenager growled low under her breath before she broke into a run, her hands automatically clenching into fists as she bolted after what looked like her friend. As she drew near, Annora ducked low and performed a sweeping kick that knocked 'Ed's' feet out from underneath him, threatening to send him flat on his face. With an inhuman grace that Annora **knew** he didn't possess, the person disguised as Ed did a front flip in mid-air before landing cat-like on his feet, sending the folders he had been holding flying everywhere.

"Hello ugly," Annora spat, and Envy scowled as he assumed his usual shape.

"What gave me away?" he grumbled, clearly not pleased with the turn of events. The teenager rolled her eyes upwards as she fixed the homunculus with a look that plainly said 'just how stupid are you?'.

"Try that it was that fact that I just left Ed in one of the research rooms, you moron."

"Watch your mouth brat. I am not a moron."

"You're right. You're gay."

There was dead silence for several moments as Envy turned a very intriguing shade of puce before he exploded.

"I am **not** gay!" the homunculus shrieked, and Annora couldn't help but smirk as she fixed him with a disbelieving look.

"-Cough- BULLSHIT!! -Cough-"

"I'm going to kill you for that."

"You and what army?"

Envy scowled as he glared at the teenager for several moments before his expression twisted into a maniacal smile, and Annora felt a chill run down her spine as she took a precautionary step back.

"How about I just tell everyone who you are, and where you're from?" he asked as he smirked at the girl, amethyst eyes shining with a predatory gleam as he bared a set of pointy teeth. "Wasn't it someplace called Flagstaff?"

The teen's breath caught in her throat as she stared wide-eyed at the homunculus, a numbing chill spreading throughout her body as she tried to think straight.

"Who… who told you that?" she gasped. Envy sneered mockingly at her as he planted his hands on his hips and leaned forward, a smirk planted solidly on his face.

"I have my ways of finding out," he said scornfully. "And the thing is I can be anyone. I can find out where you live, where you go to school… don't try to deny it either, because I know that most brats your age go to school, who your friends are, and everyone else that you hold dear. And I can kill them all one by one, until you fall to your knees broken, begging me to stop and kill you instead just so those few other pathetic worms can go about with their miserable lives for a few more moments."

Annora stood there frozen as she listened to the homunculus, stunned horror incapacitating her as she stared incredulously at Envy. Emboldened by her silence, the androgynous Sin continued with his dark threats, a sadistic gleam in his slitted eyes.

"Or, I could make you decide who matters more to you, your precious mommy and daddy, or the Fullmetal Pipsqueak and his tin can of a brother, and kill the ones that you didn't choose, letting them know that you wouldn't save them because you thought that the other ones were more important to you. I wonder how long it would take for me to completely break you, in body and soul, before you would do anything for me, even kill the brats that you call your 'friends'."

The sixteen-year old forced herself to snap out of the stunned state that she was in, and immediately looked around for some sort of weapon as she tried not to lose her temper. Annora knew that there was no way in hell that she could ever hope to take Envy on all by herself, and she couldn't help but grin in relief when she caught sight of the fire alarm.

Without a moment's hesitation, the girl sharply drove her jacket-clad elbow into the glass pane covering the fire alarm, completely shattering the covering, before she pulled the alarm.

The loud blaring sound that erupted before the sprinklers went off startled Envy, and Annora used this opportunity to nail him a good one in the balls.

"Don't you **ever** threaten my family, you stringy-haired son of a bitch!!" she snarled, fury seeping from almost every pore in her body as she glared hatefully at the downed homunculus, ignorant of the water that was spraying from the ceiling onto her. Envy scowled up at her before he staggered to his feet and dashed towards one of the large picture windows at the end of the hall, obviously intending on escaping.

"Oh no you don't!" Annora growled as she bolted after him, ignoring the puddles that were starting to build up on the tiled floor as she took a deep breath before shouting out at the top of her lungs, "Homunculus in the building!! There's been a security breach!!"

The reaction was almost instantaneous.

People came running out of offices armed with their service pistols or any other weapon that was close at hand, and Annora was rewarded with the sight of Mustang come skidding out into the hallway just ahead of her before she blew past him.

"Colonel, Envy's here!!" she called out over her shoulder. "Please, get Ed! Hurry!!"

Up ahead, Envy crossed his arms in front of his face as he jumped out of the window, shattering the numerous glass panes as he flew out into the snowy afternoon. Without even thinking about it, Annora followed him, remembering only after her feet propelled her out of the windowsill that she was up on the second story. The teenager cursed colorfully as she landed with an undignified 'crunch' in one of the numerous thick hedges beneath the windows, but was silently relieved that she hadn't killed herself for being so impulsive.

"Ouch, okay next time think before I jump," she muttered as she extracted herself from the bush's interior, wincing slightly at the dead branches that tugged at her hair and clothes, as well as jabbed her in the face. A mocking cackle resounded off to her right, and Annora scowled as she glared over at Envy, standing up and pulling some chunks of bark out of her hair as she did so.

"That was pathetic," he said with a smirk before he arched a greenish eyebrow. "And now you look like a drowned cat."

Annora gave the homunculus a deadpan look as she ignored her dripping-wet hair hanging limply about her face. Fortunately, that was the only thing that was really wet since her jacket had repelled most of the water, and it would probably be dry soon enough.

"And you look like a rat that had an intimate encounter with a brick wall," the teenager shot back, knowing that she had to stall for time until Ed or Mustang got out there. "Man, the ugly tree **really** doesn't like you."

"What… what was that?"

"Okay, since you are obviously mentally retarded, let me spell it out for you: You fell out of the ugly tree, and hit every single branch on the way down. And you **definitely** don't have an alibi."

Envy stood there, completely frozen, as he stared at Annora with a flummoxed expression on his face and his jaw hanging a good six inches away from the rest of his face. The teen arched an eyebrow before she let out an annoyed groan.

"Looks like the ugly tree also doubles as the stupid tree," she muttered with obvious sarcasm, and this time it didn't take very long at all for the homunculus to register that he'd just been insulted. Envy let out a wordless shriek of rage as he flung himself at the girl, and Annora was forced to scramble out of the way, barely avoiding getting pummeled.

The green-haired Sin skidded to a stop on the slick ice coating the pavement and spun around to fix the teenager with a maddened glare just as a cool voice rang out overhead.

"Well now Envy, is this really any way to behave? The master will be very disappointed to hear about this."

Annora jerked in surprise as she whirled around to face the speaker, and was astonished to see the lady she had seen back in Dublith when she had been abducted by Greed standing up on the roof of one of the military buildings with the rotund little man from before crouched next to her. The sixteen-year old froze when she caught sight of the bright red Ouroboros tattoo emblazoned right above the dark-haired woman's bosom, and what the woman had said to Greed came back to her.

"_From what I've been told, you've already met Gluttony. As for me… well can't you tell? I'm the new Lust."_

"Oh great, there's more of them," Annora groaned in frustration. "Wonderful. This has just gone from damn near impossible to flat-out suicide. Hurry the hell up Mustang, otherwise there's not going to be enough left of me to burry in a matchbox."

"I really don't think that's any of your business, Lust," Envy retorted as he glared up at the buxom homunculus, completely unmindful of Annora's unwitting prediction. "All I want to do right now is make this little bitch squirm in agony like a worm on a hook before I kill her right in front of the pipsqueak's eyes."

The teenager froze for one moment in shock before she thrust her hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out her transmutation gloves, yanking them on hurriedly just as a much younger voice broke the chilling silence permeating the snowy afternoon.

"So she means something to him?" a black-haired boy piped up with obvious interest as he popped out from behind Lust and fixed the girl with an inquisitive look that was anything but childish, sending chills down her spine. "Is she his girlfriend or something?"

"Ed is **NOT** my boyfriend you cat-eyed moron!!" Annora snapped angrily up at the three homunculi, outrage automatically overwriting the sane part of her mind that was currently screaming at her to shut up. "Good God, why is it that so many people are stupid enough to think that we're freaking dating each other?! I don't even like him like that!!"

"Denying it that loudly usually means that it's true," Envy commented smugly as he crossed his arms over his chest, only for the teenager to fix him with a disgusted look.

"Oh just shut up," she growled as she glanced up at the amethyst-eyed boy positioned in between Lust and Gluttony before she returned her attention back to Envy. "Oh great, you've spawned. Thanks, as if I wasn't scarred for life enough as it already was. The thought alone of you procreating is enough to make me want to gouge my eyes out."

The homunculus blinked in astonishment as he stared at Annora for several seconds before he was finally able to speak.

"You think… that Wrath… is my…?" he paused as though the very thought caused him physical pain, pointing shakily up at the younger homunculus. Wrath, catching the meaning of the teenager's comment, let out an indignant cry of horror while Lust pulled a face, and Gluttony just stood there with an uncomprehending look on his face.

"Well you both kind of look alike, and you have the same crappy sense in fashion," Annora reasoned with a shrug, although a slight smirk twitched across her lips at having freaked Envy out. "How was I to know?"

"Homunculi can't have children you stupid brat!!"

"Oh, well that's a relief. At least you can't bring any little homosexual palm trees into this world to horrify the rest of us with your ugly face."

Envy made a low snarling sound deep within his throat before he lunged at the sixteen-year old, who tried to back away before her foot caught on a rock, sending her sprawling flat on her back.

"Die you little pain in the ass!!" the homunculus shrieked as his right arm transformed into a lethal-looking spike. Annora stared up at her attacker from her prone position in wide-eyed terror as she tried to scrabble away, her fingers clawing frantically at the sheet of ice that encased the paving around her. The teenager's breath caught in her throat as she stared up into Envy's maddened lavender eyes, her body paralyzed from fear as it refused to her frantic commands to move, right before a stone block erupted from the ground right next to her and hit the homunculus square in the chest.

"Annora!!" a familiar voice roared out, snapping her from her petrified state just as Al darted forward and snatched her up from the snowy ground before running back towards the entrance to Central HQ. Annora let out a strangled squeak as she forced herself up into a sitting position in her friend's arms and managed to get a glimpse of Ed sending spike after spike at Envy before something exploded nearby, sending her and Al flying head over heels into the snow.

The sixteen-year old forced herself to her feet and wiped the slush from her eyes before she started spewing furious curses that burned the very air, at least until a metallic blade was pressed up against the side of her neck.

"I wonder if he'll give me his remaining arm and leg if I threaten you," Wrath chuckled from behind the teen, and he smirked at her when she glanced over her shoulder at him. "Do you want to see the look on his face when he realizes that you're in danger?"

"No, actually I don't. I will tell you one thing though," Annora stated calmly before she promptly performed an emotional about-face as she mule-kicked the younger homunculus in the knees before whirling around and snapping her right leg up expertly, planting her foot forcefully in his face. "This is my reaction to your face!"

Wrath fell away from her with a loud cry, and the sixteen-year old used this opportunity to grab Al's hand and haul him to his feet before running back to where Mustang and the other soldiers were assembled. Once Ed noticed that the two of them were safe, he dealt Envy one last blow before he darted out of the way, leaving the Colonel clear to signal for the other soldiers to open fire on the four homunculi.

"You idiot!!" Ed raged as he shoved his way through the crowd of gunmen and soldiers by the front steps before seizing Annora by the shoulders and shaking her violently. "Were you dropped on your head at birth?! Or does this terminal stupidity just come to you naturally?!"

"I-if I said it's hereditary, w-would you stop y-yelling at me?" she stammered out. Ed scowled, but stopped shaking the girl as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave her a supremely dirty look.

"The Colonel said that you jumped out of a window up on the **second story** when you went after Envy. ARE YOU **INSANE**?!"

Annora let out a nervous chuckle just as the soldier nearest to her swore loudly, and almost immediately the rest stopped firing their rifles.

"Jesus Christ," Eric gasped, his eyes wide and the blood draining from his face in a hurry as he gaped at the homunculi, his rifle hanging limp in his grasp. "They… they're not dead."

Envy smirked as several bullets fell out from his flesh, baring his pointed teeth at some of the shaken soldiers.

"What's wrong worms? Never seen something that can't be killed by your little toys before?" he asked mockingly before looking over at Gluttony. "Get rid of them Gluttony."

"I can eat them?"

"I'm not going to stop you."

The obese homunculi's stupid grin transformed into a ravenous leer as a thick rope of drool slithered out from the corner of his mouth. Even the soldiers who had fought the homunculi before looked unnerved, and their grip on their guns shook noticeably.

"Any time now Mustang," Annora muttered warningly as she eyed Gluttony with barely repressed anxiety. The Colonel's dark eyes flickered over towards the teen for one split second before a grim smirk crossed his face and he brought his right hand up in one swift move, snapping his fingers together and sending a tongue of flame blazing around the Sin.

The resulting explosion was nothing short of a miniature inferno.

As the cloud of choking smoke cleared, and everyone's ears stopped ringing, they were all treated to the sight of Gluttony's charred body lying right on top of Envy, pinning the other homunculus to the ground.

"You moron!" he growled as he shoved at the obese Sin's limp form. "This is no time to let yourself get roasted like a pig!!"

"… that was a disgusting analogy," Annora said quietly to Ed, who nodded in agreement as Gluttony staggered to his feet, his body healing as they watched. Envy fixed the girl with a venomous glare, his face twisted into a hideous mask of rage as he clenched his hands tightly.

"I wouldn't start shooting your mouth off yet you little bitch," he snarled before moving right behind Ed, electric-blue sparks swirling up his body as he spoke. Within seconds, what could have passed as Annora's identical twin stood right behind the Fullmetal Alchemist with a pistol pressed up against the back of his head.

"Brother!!" Al yelped as he tried to dash forward, only to have Envy press the gun up against Ed's head even harder.

"Don't even think about moving," 'she' stated coldly, brown eyes narrowed in malicious glee as she smirked at Ed. "So pipsqueak, how does it feel to be the one in trouble?"

The teenage alchemist didn't get a chance to answer as Annora suddenly lunged forward and tackled the Sin, pinning him to the ground before driving a furious punch right into her double's face.

"I don't think he needs to answer that one!" she spat angrily. Envy sneered in her face before he kicked the girl off of him and resumed his usual shape, watching Annora intently as she stood up and wiped a bit of blood away from the corner of her mouth where she had bitten her lip with a knuckle before she fixed him with a heated glare full of loathing.

"You're pretty cocky for a brat who can't do much of anything," the androgynous homunculus scoffed as he gave the teen a condescending smirk. "All I'd have to do to kill you is snap that pretty little neck of yours, and it will all be over. What do you have to say about that?"

Annora just stood there with a neutral expression on her face before a mocking smile crossed her lips, and she let out a short, sardonic chuckle.

"Oh no, a cross-dressing, homosexual palm tree. I _quiver_ with fear," she drawled sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest as she fixed the stunned Sin with a triumphant look.

"A what?!" Ed yelped from behind her, and the sixteen-year old turned around as she arched an eyebrow at her friend's shock.

"You've never heard me say that?" she asked with a grin, and the alchemist shook his head.

"No, that's a new one for me."

"Well, look at him! It fits!" Annora protested as she pointed at the quietly fuming homunculus. Ed looked thoughtful for a few seconds before he nodded in agreement.

"Actually, you're right. It does fit. So what was it? A 'cross-dressing, homosexual palm tree'?"

"Yep."

Envy twitched violently as he stood there on the icy pavement watching the two teens, the look on his face indicating that he was about ready to kill something. The murmurs of agreement coming from the soldiers around them wasn't helping much either.

"That's it. The next person who calls me **anything** with the words 'palm tree' in it will have their neck stabbed with a **steak knife**!!" he shrieked, spraying saliva everywhere, much to Lust's obvious disgust.

"Envy, get a grip on yourself," she stated coolly, her purple eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at the older homunculus. "Your lack of self-control is becoming annoying."

Envy opened his mouth to say something, probably an obscenity, before Annora said something that caused him to absolutely lose it.

"What about 'faggot'?"

Envy lunged for her with an ear-splitting shriek of fury, and everything else went straight down the toilet. Lust intercepted Alphonse before the younger Elric could come to her aid, and Wrath attacked Ed, saying something about taking the rest of his limbs, while Gluttony went after the rest of the soldiers.

Gunfire and explosions rent the air as Annora clapped her hands together and slammed them down on the ground with all the force she could muster, sending a gigantic stone spike straight through Envy's abdomen. The homunculus spat out a mouthful of blood before he wrenched himself free and glared at the teenager, hatred and loathing plastered firmly across his face.

"It'll take a lot more than what you can dish out to defeat me, you scrawny little human wench!" Envy growled. Annora just arched an eyebrow before she rolled her eyes upwards, a clearly dispassionate expression on her face.

"Oh wow… what an amazing comeback. How long did it take you to think that one up?" she asked dryly before she frowned slightly, and her tone turned insulting. "When are you going to realize that **I'm not scared of you**? If you haven't figured it out by now, you're not exactly the brightest crayon in the box, now are you?"

"I've had enough if this!!" the homunculus hissed, his cat-like eyes narrowed almost to the point of being slits. Annora gave a harsh laugh as she fixed the Sin with a skeptical look.

"Good, because so have I. Why don't crawl off now and hole up in your little emo corner so the rest of us don't have to look at your face anymore."

Envy let out a low growl before he shifted into something at caused Annora to take several steps back, her brown eyes widening to an impossible degree as the color drained from her face. There, towering a good twenty feet above her, was the head of a gigantic serpent with a set of lethal-looking fangs bared and a homicidal gleam to its eyes.

"Oh my God…" she whispered hoarsely before she whirled around and ran as fast as she could, darting from side to side, and scrambling over rubble left from previous alchemic attacks as Envy tried to snap at her.

"Stop scrabbling about, you little rat!!" the homunculus roared as he tried to scoop the teenager up in his mouth, only for Annora to erect several crisscrossing stone pillars in front of her, causing the snake to slam its head into the unyielding rock.

"Up yours!!" she shouted back, a shrill note of fear in her voice before she transmuted more pillars all around her, forming an immense stone tent. Envy let out an annoyed snort before he turned into something that the sixteen-year old had only seen in movies; a dragon.

The homunculus sneered at the girl from in between the gaps of the stone pillars as he slid a massive paw in between one of the gaps, obviously intending on ripping apart Annora's little fortress. The teenager let out a wordless cry of panic as she slammed her hands down on the pillar closest to her, causing lethal spikes to erupt from every inch of her homemade fortification.

Envy jerked back as he let out a snarl of anger, baring all of his teeth in annoyance at the fact that a mere teenage girl had just prevented him from ripping her to shreds.

"Gluttony, chew that brat out of there!!" he snapped over his scaly shoulder before he stomped over towards where the other soldiers were assembled. "I'll take care of these worms."

"Can I eat her?"

"Go ahead. Make sure that you start with her arms and legs first though."

Almost instantly after he was given the go-ahead, Gluttony barreled for the homemade fortress and started to chew on the stone protecting Annora. The sixteen-year old didn't wait for him to break through, but instead blasted a hole in the opposite side of the fort and crawled out before she broke into a run. Unfortunately, she didn't make it very far before Gluttony seized her by the wrist and slammed her up against a nearby brick wall, grabbing her other hand in his meaty fist when she tried to swing at him.

"Girl meat, so tender and sweet," he drooled stupidly, and Annora immediately jerked her head back and shoved her feet into the homunculi's gut in an attempt to push him as far away from her as possible.

"Let go of me!!" she raged, squirming about wildly in a futile effort to wrench herself free of the tubby Sin's grasp.

"Envy said I could eat you."

"Well I'm saying that you can't!!"

"But why?"

"Because I taste horrible! Trust me, I'll make you sick."

"You still smell good.'

"Stay the hell away from me!!" Annora snapped as she kicked Gluttony as hard as she could in the stomach, but the blow didn't even faze the homunculus as he leered at her hungrily. Terror flooded through the teen's system as a chilling realization dawned upon her for the first time in her life.

She was completely helpless.

--

Ethan muttered a continuous stream of profanities as he fired shot after shot at the homunculus that was terrorizing the soldiers, even if they seemingly had no effect. He knew that the moment he stopped firing and really took in the improbability of the situation that he was in at the moment he would completely lose it. As it was, it was all he could do not to throw down his rifle and run yammering like an idiot back into the relative safety of Central HQ.

"Why the hell won't these sons of bitches die?!" he snarled out the corner of his mouth at Havoc, who was standing right next to him and shooting as though his life depended upon it.

"They're homunculi, some sort of thing created from alchemy gone wrong," the older man replied as he popped out an empty clip and jammed a fresh one into its place. "The bad part about it is that they don't die no matter what you do to them."

"Shit."

"Kid, that doesn't even begin to cover it."

Ethan gritted his teeth as he tried to cover up his extreme unease from the four people around him using what Havoc had called alchemy, but to him it looked more like magic. All of a sudden his attention was directed elsewhere when a terrified shriek pierced through the chaos around them, and he caught sight of Annora struggling with the fat homunculus that they had been shooting at earlier.

"Ed, Mustang, anyone, HELP!!" she cried out, her voice cracking as she tried not to show just how scared she was, using all of her strength to keep Gluttony away from her.

For one split second everything seemed to freeze as something clicked inside Ethan's mind, and a torrent of images flooded his mind.

"_Ethan you need to be nicer to your sister. She's only three, so she doesn't know any better, but you do."_

_-_

"_I have the coolest big brother in the world!! He plays with me all the time, and last weekend he took me hiking with him and the rest of his friends!"_

_-_

"_Brother, I can't see. Can you put me on your shoulders?"_

_-_

"_Junior high sucks. How did you ever make it out of there alive?"_

_-_

"_Ethan, what on earth possessed you to tell your sister that blowing up the jack o' lantern was your science project?"_

_-_

"_Ethan, are you really going into the army?"_

_The eighteen-year old froze as he slowly turned around to look at his younger sister, who stood in his bedroom doorway with an accusing look in her wide brown eyes. The boy gave her an embarrassed smile, and she let out a soft sigh as she turned around to leave._

"_Hey, why don't you take a seat and we can talk about it?" he suggested as he sat down on his bed and patted the spot next to him. The fourteen-year old stared at him for a few moments before she walked over and flopped down next to him, a slight frown on her face._

"_I don't want you to go," she said suddenly, staring fixedly at her knees. "You'll get hurt."_

"_And why do you say that?" Ethan asked with a slight chuckle, an understanding smile on his face. "You heard Mom and Dad talking to me didn't you?"_

_His sister nodded hesitantly, and the older boy grinned as he ruffled her shoulder-length brown hair affectionately._

"_You worry too much kiddo. I'll be fine, I promise."_

_-_

"_You better stay safe, Ethan."_

_The eighteen-year old paused as he looked back at his younger sister before ignoring the airport screening checkpoint behind him and setting his kit bag down in front of his family. Without hesitation, he pulled off the silver ring that was around his right index finger and placed in gently in the younger girl's hand, wrapping her fingers around it protectively as he smiled._

"_Why don't you keep that safe for me, at least until I get back," he suggested as he straightened up, a reassuring smile on his face as he re-shouldered his knapsack. "You might want to get a chain or something to put it on though, since your fingers are way too small for that ring."_

"_But-"_

"_Don't worry about me, kiddo. I'll be fine, I promise."_

_-_

_Ethan frowned as he leaned back in his chair and looked over his shoulder at one of his friends, Private Ben Morado, as he ran over to him with a huge grin on his face._

"_Well I'll be damned," Ben said as he slapped Ethan hard on the back and smirked. "I never would have thought that you would've surfed the Internet on your precious free time."_

"_I have no clue what the hell you're talking about," the young man said stiffly as he glared at Ben. "I was talking to my sister. Actually, I was talking to one of her friends and his teacher to be precise. Apparently she's pretty sick right now, and since there's no one home at my house to keep an eye on her, they moved her to their teacher's house."_

"_Bullshit," Ben said as he ran a hand over his cropped short black hair. "You my friend have finally been bitten by the anime bug."_

"_You mean that crap that you keep talking about and reading all the time?" Ethan asked incredulously as he gave a muffled snort of derision. "Get real. I'm being serious though; I was talking with a friend of my little sister."_

"_No, you were watching __**Fullmetal Alchemist**__," the Hispanic man insisted as he gave Ethan a pitying look. "You can't fool me, amigo; I would know those faces anywhere. You need to stop denying yourself and come out of the closet… wait, that just sounded wrong." _

"_No shit," Ethan grumbled as he gave his friend a distinctly sour look. "If you're that desperate, there are a couple of camels out by the officers' tents that you can have a go at. They might kick your teeth out your ass before you can try, but hey, they're still there."_

"_Wow, it sounds like somebody is suffering from caffeine depravation," Ben remarked before he turned around and headed towards the mess tent. "I know when I'm not wanted. Enjoy your self-denial."_

_Ethan frowned at Ben's flippant remark before he returned his attention to the computer screen and checked his watch. He still had about twenty minutes left until his free time was over._

_Immediately, the soldier opened up the Internet link and went straight to Google, where he typed __**Fullmetal Alchemist**__ into the 'search' box and hit 'Enter'. When he saw some of the image results that came up on the topic, Ethan's lower jaw damn near hit the ground in shock._

"_No way," he whispered hoarsely as he stared at a picture of a boy around his sister's age, with the words 'Edward Elric; the Fullmetal Alchemist' emblazoned along the bottom, who looked exactly like the one that he had been talking too not fifteen minutes ago. "There is no way that this is even remotely possible."_

_-_

"_I have got to be losing my mind to even be __**thinking**__ that this is possible," Ethan muttered in annoyance as he massaged the bridge of his nose, pacing nervously back and forth out a few meters away from the tents. "People don't just suddenly pop into some other world without warning. That kind of crap only happens in movies and books, and besides, even if it somehow __**was**__ true, someone would have noticed that she was missing by now."_

_Ethan groaned and shook his head as he let out a sigh. Just thinking about all of this was making his head hurt._

_The twenty-year old muttered something indistinguishable under his breath as he pulled his dog tags out from under his shirt, flack jacket and vest, running callused fingers pensively over the engraving of his name. The repetitive motion helped to calm him down a bit, and he slowly began to relax. He was overreacting, that was all; there was just no way that his sixteen-year old sister was in some stupid Japanese cartoon. Thinking about it now, it sounded like the plotline to some idiotic B-movie, or a soppy romance novel._

_Ethan snapped out of his calm state as he accidentally sliced his finger open on the jagged edge to one of his dog tags where he had once been nicked by shrapnel. The young man swore darkly under his breath as he fought the instinctive urge to put the injured digit in his mouth to stop the blood now flowing freely._

"_God dammit, I need to get that taken care of!" he hissed angrily as several drops of blood dripped down onto the sand by his feet. "I don't need my dog tags to be a weapon as well."_

_A shrill whistling sound pierced the nighttime quiet from overhead, and the young soldier just barely had time to look up before the mortar impacted with the sandy ground right in front of him. He had a split-second glimpse of the explosion, which all seemed to go in slow motion, before he was seemingly whisked away to some unending golden void with a set of gigantic stone doors planted directly in the middle._

"_Well, this is most certainly interesting," a voice remarked from behind him, and Ethan immediately spun around to face the speaker. To his shock it was a humanoid black shape with large blue eyes and an eerily wide grin filled with large white teeth._

"_Who are you?" the soldier demanded as he stared at the figure uneasily. "What is this place?"_

"_This is called the Gate."_

"_Am… am I dead?"_

_The Gate creature fixed the young man with a scrutinizing look before it started to chuckle, the sound echoing oddly around the void, even though it should have died off._

"_No Ethan Thomas, you're not dead… at least not yet."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_If I were to return you to your plane of reality, in Iraq, you would definitely be dead from that explosion. Since I tore you away from there right before the explosion started, you are still alive, at least for the moment."_

_Ethan froze as he stared at the creature with wide hazel eyes, confusion and unease evident on his features. The soldier opened his mouth to say something, only to have the Gate child cut him off._

"_What is it that you value most?" it asked, fixing the young man with an unnervingly serious stare. "What is it that you wish to see and protect the most?"_

_The twenty-year old remained silent for several seconds, thoughts of his family running though his mind before a single word slipped from his lips unbidden._

"_Annora."_

"_Ah, your sister," the Gate child chuckled in understanding as an unnerving smile crossed its face. "Well then, you shall see her."_

_Before Ethan could ask what the thing meant, the Gate opened up behind him, and he was seized by a series of black tentacles that yanked him in before he even had time to shout. The entire series of events was too much for the young soldier, and he felt a disjointed sense of relief as he blacked out._

_The next thing he knew, he was waking up in a filing room._

Fury surged through the man's veins as he slammed a fresh clip into his rifle, his usually friendly eyes narrowed in hatred as he coldly aimed straight for Envy's head. His shot nailed the homunculus right in the eye, piercing his brain and causing him to totter unsteadily for a few moments.

Those few moments were all that Ethan needed.

Without a word to Havoc, the young soldier jumped off the front steps and barreled straight towards Gluttony like a juggernaut, his knuckles white as he gripped his rifle tightly. Ethan let out a wordless cry of rage as he stopped right behind the homunculus and clubbed it mercilessly upside the head with the butt of his rifle, slamming the metal end of the stock repeatedly against its skull. The twenty-year old kept attacking the obese Sin until it finally let go of Annora and staggered away from the two of them, leaving the bruised and gasping teenager slumped up against the wall that she had been pinned to.

"Careful," she warned as she staggered to her feet, wincing slightly as she straightened up. "I don't know what it takes to kill these things, but a couple of blows to the head aren't going to do it."

"Then it's a good thing that I have something better than that," Ethan muttered grimly, a humorless smirk crossing his face as he slung the strap of his rifle over his shoulder and pulled a grenade out of his pocket. Without even waiting for the homunculus to react, the young man pulled the pin out and lunged forward, stuffing the explosive as far down Gluttony's throat as he could before jerking back and pulling Annora with him, dragging her as far away as he could.

Needless to say, Gluttony exploded with a shower of blood, and other bits of unidentifiable gore, raining down on Ethan, who had Annora pulled close to him in an attempt to protect her from the blood spatter, and anyone else unfortunate (or stupid) enough to be in the area.

"Ha hah!!" the twenty-year old exclaimed as he glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of the ghoulish remnants of what had been the obese Sin. "How do you like them apples, fatass?!"

The triumphant laughter died suddenly in Ethan's throat as his eyes bugged out, an a faint chill of terror crawled down into the pit of his stomach as the scattered bits of what was left of Gluttony slowly began to piece themselves back together right before his eyes.

"I told you, they don't die," Annora whispered uneasily as she watched 'Eric's' barely repressed terror. The older man hesitated for a few seconds before he grabbed her around the waist, slinging her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, and bolted away from the scene like a rabbit.

"That's it; we are outta here!" he yelled, running for the front steps to Central HQ like they would somehow protect them from the seemingly immortal monsters that they were now confronted with. "I've had enough of this shit!"

"Oh believe me, there's a lot more where that came from," a chillingly familiar voice hissed from behind them, and Annora let out a strangled moan of fear as she lifted her head up to look back into Envy's enraged lavender eyes.

"Run," she said hoarsely before she started pounding on her older brother's back. "Run, you idiot!! RUN!!"

Ethan didn't even get a chance to put her frenzied command into effect before something slammed into them from behind with all the force of a runaway semi, sending the young soldier sprawling, and Annora flying from his arms. The twenty-year old lay there sprawled in the snow, trying not to black out as he struggled to suck air back into his winded lungs

His little sister needed him; without him, she was going to die, that much he knew already. Ethan struggled to come up with a plan, anything, before a single sentence came to mind, something that Mustang had said not too long after he had signed up under the older man's command.

"_To gain the initiative in war, first take away your enemy's mobility. And whenever possible, use the element of surprise."_

--

"That's so sweet," Envy crooned mockingly as he stalked over to where Annora was trying to stand up, the badly worn tread of her sneakers and the icy ground causing her feet to slip out from under her each time. "And here I thought chivalry was dead. I didn't even know that there were still men out there naive enough to try to play knight and rescue the girl."

"Shut up!" the teenager snapped as she managed to finally get to her feet, positioning herself right in front of the fallen soldier. Envy sneered at her as he continued to speak, each word dripping with scorn and bile before he reached out and effortlessly knocked her away into a nearby pile of slush.

Annora forced herself up to her knees as she spat out some of the snow that had accidentally ended up in her open mouth, glaring up at the approaching homunculus defiantly. The rebellious gleam in the girl's eyes caused Envy to laugh out loud, an unpleasant sound that caused the hair along everyone's necks to stand straight up.

"Although it just proves how truly pathetic you really are, since you need some big strong military lunkhead to come and save your ass," he mocked. "In fact all I have to do to end your life is-"

**BLAM!!**

Annora jerked backwards instinctively as a bullet hole suddenly appeared in the middle of Envy's forehead, accompanied by the familiar sound of someone manually ejecting the spent shell from a bolt-action rifle. The teenager caught sight of Eric standing behind Envy with his rifle in his hands, a look of unparalleled fury on his face as he aimed directly at the homunculus. Envy managed to grunt out a curse as he turned around to face the sandy-haired soldier, his slitted eyes narrowed dangerously.

"So you want to play hero, eh?" he growled before a cruel smile crossed his face, showing his pointed teeth. "Well that's fine with me. I'll just kill the little bitch after I've ripped you to pieces in front of-"

**BLAM!!**

The next shot hit Envy right in the groin, and 'Eric' ejected the used cartridge with more force than necessary as he glared murderously at the Sin.

"Don't you **ever** talk about my sister that way, you mother-fucking son of a bitch!!" he snarled, his greenish eyes narrowed dangerously. "You say something like that to her again, and I swear to God I'll blast your fucking jaw off!"

Envy froze and stared at the young man in front of him, shock evident on his face.

"You… you're her brother?" he managed to say. Ethan smile thinly at the homunculus, a chilling gleam entering his usually friendly eyes.

"You got that right asshole. And **nobody** ever hurts my sister without me kicking their ass 'till they can't sit down right for a month," the Private growled as he gave Envy a look that would have made Freddy Kruger piss his pants. Before the homunculus could react, Ethan fired three successive shots into the Sin's brain, killing him for the time being. Thinking for a moment, the soldier stuffed a sizeable wad of C4 that he had taken from his old flack jacket into the homunculi's mouth, along with a detonator.

"Chew on that one for a bit, bastard," he muttered darkly as he turned around to face Annora, who was sitting there limply in the snow, looking for all the world as though she had just seen a ghost.

"E-Ethan…?" she whispered hoarsely, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes as she looked up at him. "Is that… are you really…?"

"Somehow 'Nora, I don't think I could have shot that stupid faggot if I wasn't here."

The sixteen-year old let out a choked sob as she lunged for him, wrapping her arms around her older brother and burying her face in the front of his blue Amestranian uniform.

"You idiot!" she bawled, a few hot tears falling from her eyes as she clung to him. "I-I thought you were dead! **Ben** told me that you got blown up!"

"Well Ben saw wrong," Ethan said simply as he ran a comforting hand over Annora's head, even though on the inside he was cringing at what his sister had probably gone through after hearing about his so-called 'death'. "I'm here Annora. It's gonna be okay, I promise."

The sibling reunion was broken up by Mustang's shout from by the front steps, irritation obvious in the Colonel's voice.

"Thomas, would you hurry the hell up and get over here?!" the Flame Alchemist demanded as he sent tongue after tongue of fire at Lust and Gluttony, the two homunculi having ganged up on the soldiers after Wrath went after both Ed and Al. Ethan hesitated for a moment as he looked at his sister nervously, and Annora let out an annoyed groan as she rolled her eyes upwards before she gave her brother a slightly reassuring smile.

"Ethan, they need your help," she pointed out seriously before a slight frown crossed her face. "I have friends that I need to help too."

"But-"

"Don't worry about me you dork. I'm a big girl; I can tie my own shoes and everything. We're just going to have a **lot** of explaining to do once this whole thing is over."

"Why do I have a feeling that the Colonel's not going to be too happy with us?"

"That's putting it mildly. Mustang's gonna have a shit fit when we tell him that you're my brother."

Ethan arched an eyebrow speculatively as he looked down at his younger sibling, who just gave him an innocent grin in response. Before further words could be exchanged, Ed let out a furious yell, accompanied by several loud curses.

"I believe I'm being paged," Annora said as she turned around and ran off towards her friend. "Do me a favor and don't get killed!"

The twenty-year old gave a slight roll of his eyes in response as he shifted his rifle into a firing position, his expression turning grim as he lined up his sights on one of the homunculi terrorizing the soldiers. Right now his comrades needed him more than his sister did.

Annora felt like she had just chugged half a dozen sodas all in a row as she ran towards Ed and Al, nervous energy thrumming through her veins and mingling freely with the adrenalin already there. Her brother was alive! Nothing, not even the homunculi attacking them, could kill her joy.

"Ed, he's alive!!" she called out enthusiastically as she jumped into the fray, swiping Wrath's feet out from underneath him as he charged towards Al.

"What?" Ed asked as he turned around partially to face her, confusion evident on his face. "Who's alive?"

"Ethan, he's alive!" she said, an infectious grin crossing her face as she stared at her friend.

"Annora, are you feeling okay?" the teenager asked uneasily, concern flashing momentarily in his odd-colored eyes. A few meet away from them, Al also fixed the older girl with a worried look.

"I'm fine Ed. I'm just so glad that Ethan's okay!" Annora said as she flashed her friend a reassuring smile. The Fullmetal Alchemist seemed a little unnerved at her statement, and opened his mouth to reply just as Wrath got to his feet and alchemically fused an abandoned rifle to his arm.

"I **will** become human, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" he hissed at Ed, aiming the gun right at the blonde boy's automail leg.

"Brother, look out!!" Al yelped as he threw himself in front of the older Elric, causing the shot that Wrath fired to rebound off of his armored chest. Annora was immediately snapped out of her euphoric state as she spat out a furious curse, whirling around to glare at the small homunculus.

"You leave him alone, you freakish little monster!!" she snarled as she clapped her hands together and slammed them down on the slushy ground in front of her, intending on skewering Wrath with a barrage of ice spikes. Sensing her intentions, the homunculus threw himself down on the cold ground and started a transmutation even larger than the one the teenager was attempting to do, somehow swallowing up all of the alchemic energy she had pulled together in the process.

At first there was nothing, save for a sinking feeling that made itself known in the pits of their stomachs, before the wind started to kick up. Faster and faster it started to whirl around the four adolescents, pulling at hair and clothing as it gained speed, the core of its vertex right in the middle of the where they were all standing. Then the light started, flaring a bright gold for a few brief moments before turning a sickly, dark purple.

"Noo!! Make it go away!!" Wrath suddenly shrieked as he clamped his hands over his ears, curling up into a small ball in the snow with his eyes clenched shut. "Don't let it take me!!"

"What the hell?" Annora said as the wind continued to increase in strength, her brown eyes wide as she looked about her. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but I sure as hell don't want to stick around long enough to find out," Ed growled as he and Al started to jog for the edge of the reaction. "Let's get out of here."

Annora started to go after them, only to be jerked to stop as Wrath suddenly threw himself at her and wrapped his arms around her leg.

"Don't leave me!!" he begged, tears streaming out of his eyes as he stared up at the older girl in obvious fear. "Don't let it take me back!"

Annora opened her mouth to say something, only for the words to die in her throat as she stared down at the ground below her in abject terror. There were little black hands coming out of the now-glowing ground.

Wrath let out a fresh shriek of terror at the sight of the hands, and the teenager faintly heard Ed drop several curses from where he was over the howl of the wind. Before Annora could do anything, Envy suddenly appeared inside the transmutation and wrenched Wrath away from her, throwing the younger homunculus unceremoniously out of the circle before he too tried to get out.

"Annora, run!"

The sixteen-year old snapped around to stare at Edward, ignoring what was going on behind her as she stared in horror at the sight that surround her. Faintly glowing lines were slowly beginning to converge around the whirlwind, forming the outline of a transmutation circle.

Without a word, she ran as fast as she could in an attempt to get out of the massive circle that was surrounding her. Ed and Al were both standing just outside of the glowing circle, the older Elric entering a level of panic that he had never known before as he watched Annora try to escape from within the glowing violet lines, and Al struggling to hold his brother back.

"Dammit Annora, run!!" Ed roared out just as an odd tingling sensation became present on the teenager's feet. A cold feeling of dread crept over Annora as she forced herself to dash forward, even though her legs felt as though they were moving through molasses. She didn't need to look down, or have anyone one tell her that the hands from the Gate were impeding her progress.

"Annora, grab my hand!!" the teenage alchemist shouted as he extended his automail hand towards hers, obviously intending on physically hauling her out of the transmutation circle. "Take it, now!!"

Annora reached for him as the numbing feeling began to spread, the small black hands ripping away parts of her arms, and face as she watched, leaving nothing behind but empty spaces that used to be occupied by flesh and blood. Terror surged through her as she strained to grasp Ed's offered hand, fear wrenching at her heart.

Her fingertips were only a fraction of an inch away from his when everything around her seemingly exploded into millions of fragments, the Gate sucking her straight into its endless abyss right before the very eyes of her friends.

The last thing that Annora ever heard was Ed screaming out her name.


	24. Chapter 23: Home

"The human spirit is stronger than anything that happens to us." – C. C. Scott

**Chapter Twenty-Three:**

**Home**

Violet light seared its way into his retinas as Edward struggled against Alphonse's iron grip, fighting against his little brother as he strained to reach for Annora's hand while the corrupted transmutation crackled ominously around them.

"Annora, take my hand!!" he roared out as he held out one gloved hand towards hers, oblivious to Al's death grip on the back of his jacket as the younger Elric strained to keep him from getting sucked up into the transmutation as well. Brown eyes wide with a terror that was so unlike her usual cocksure attitude met his, and Ed felt a thrill of fear run through him as he strained to grasp the pale hand that she extended towards him, redoubling his efforts to get to his friend.

"Brother, be careful!" Al pleaded as he clutched at his older sibling's trademark red trench coat, only for the blonde to ignore him.

"Grab my hand!" the Fullmetal Alchemist ordered as he tried to grab Annora's hand, only to fall short by a few short inches. The taller girl looked at him with abject terror, a wild fear showing in her eyes as she tried to ignore the inky hands that were slowly stripping away the very fiber of her being, leaving behind nothing but empty space.

Ed felt droplets of sweat bead up on his face, only to be swept away by the whirlwind tugging at him as he strained to reach his friend. Just a little further…

Just as the State Alchemist was about to snatch up Annora's hand and haul her bodily out of the transmutation circle, her entire body started to dissolve, her fingertips shattering into millions of fragments while only millimeters from his gloved hand. The fragments were all immediately sucked into the dark void of the Gate before the ethereal stone doors slammed shut, and the dark wind from the transmutation vanished without a trace, leaving behind nothing more than a smooth expanse of untouched snow.

"Annora…" Ed whispered hoarsely as his legs gave away, and he fell to his knees in the snow, starring wide-eyed in horror at the spot where up until a few moments ago his friend had been standing. "No… no… no, dammit, no!!"

The State Alchemist felt a deep surge of self-loathing rise up within him as he stared fixedly down at the snowy ground in front of him. What had just happened… it was almost exactly like what had happened when he and Al had tried to bring their mother back to life.

Al stood frozen behind his older brother, shocked to the point of being speechless, as he too stared at the spot that Annora had only seconds before occupied. What had just happened… it was almost surreal.

"ANNORA!!" another voice cried out, and Ed lifted his head up a little bit to see Eric break away from the other soldiers and rush over to where he and Al were before skidding to a halt, the blood draining from his face as he stared down the solid stone street before he spun around to glare at Wrath, who sat huddled up on the cobblestones a few feet away from them. The soldier stared at the childish homunculus for a few moments before a look of animalistic rage crossed his face and before anyone else could react he seized the dark-haired boy by the front of his shirt, slamming Wrath forcefully into the closest brick wall.

"WHERE IS SHE, YOU LYING LITTLE SACK OF RAT SHIT!!" he snarled, shaking the small homunculus like a terrier shaking a rat. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU SEND HER?!"

"Eric, calm down!!" Havoc snapped as he tried to approach the younger man and place a reassuring hand on his shoulder, only to back away as the twenty-year old slowly turned around and leveled an icy glare at him.

"No, I will not calm down!!" 'Eric' growled curtly as he glowered defiantly at the Lieutenant, not noticing the calculating look that Mustang was currently giving him. "Not until this little bastard tells me what the hell he did with my sister!!"

Mustang started visibly at this information, while Havoc gaped incredulously at the Private, his jaw almost hitting the pavement as his trademark cigarette fell from his numb lips.

"S-sister?" the sandy-haired Lieutenant stammered while the rest of the soldiers under Mustang's command all stared at Ethan like they had never seen him before, except for Hughes. Ed steadily ignored the chaos going on around him as he stared dumbly at the spot that Annora had been in, his golden eyes narrowing slightly when he caught sight of a small flash of silver partially hidden among some snow still left on the ground.

Hesitantly the State Alchemist reached out and scooped the object up from the snow, holding it gently in his left hand as he stared at it before he began to gently brush away the bits of snow and ice clinging to the metal. It was a silver ring, obviously a man's judging from the size, and it was threaded on a delicate silver chain so that it could be worn as a necklace. Ed frowned thoughtfully as he looked at the necklace pensively for a few moments before something came back to him.

"_Ethan… he's okay, right?" she asked nervously as her entire body trembled. "He's okay, isn't he?"_

_Ben hesitated as a sympathetic look flashed through his eyes, and understanding flooded through the sixteen-year old as she rocked back in her chair with a soft cry._

"_No, oh please, God, no," she moaned as tears started to well up in her eyes. "He's okay, he has to be… he… he promised! He promised that he'd come back home after his tour ended!! He's not dead, he can't be!!"_

"_I'm sorry kid, but… he was standing right next to where the IED went off. We haven't found his body yet, but then again… there might not be much left."_

"_No… no, you're wrong, you have to be…" Annora said haltingly as she grabbed the front of her nightgown, clenching at something desperately beneath the fabric as though it would anchor her to her rapidly dissolving reality._

_-_

"_Ed, he's alive!!" Annora called out enthusiastically as she jumped into the fray, swiping Wrath's feet out from underneath him as he charged towards Al._

"_What?" the alchemist asked as he turned around partially to face her, confusion evident on his face. "Who's alive?"_

"_Ethan, he's alive!" she said, an infectious grin crossing her face as she stared at her friend. _

"_Annora, are you feeling okay?" the teenager asked uneasily, concern flashing momentarily in his odd-colored eyes. A few meet away from them, Al also fixed the older girl with a worried look._

"_I'm fine Ed. I'm just so glad that Ethan's okay!"_

Several things fell into place for the alchemist as Mustang stalked over towards where 'Eric' was standing, his face a pale mask of fury.

"Private Thomas, explain yourself!" he barked, glaring heatedly at the younger man. Eric frowned as he stared back defiantly at his commanding officer, his back ramrod-straight.

"I don't think that there's much for me to explain, sir," he stated coolly. "Annora Thomas is my younger sister. It's as simple as that."

Hughes let out an annoyed groan as he covered his eyes with his hand, trying his hardest not to start yelling at the twenty-year old about respecting his superior officers. He was already in enough hot water as it was, and being a smart-ass to Roy definitely wasn't going to help matters any. Wrath glanced uneasily between the two soldiers before he ripped himself free from Eric's iron grip, leaving behind a piece of his black shirt, before he darted into the nearest alleyway.

Eric didn't notice what the homunculus had done until he glanced down and noticed the swatch of black cloth in his hand, and no homunculus. He stared stunned at his hand for a few short seconds before he let loose a long barrage of furious curses. Mustang hesitated for a moment before he started to berate the man for losing the only homunculus that they had captured; the other three having pulled a disappearing act when the botched transmutation had occurred.

"Excuse me. This… is this yours?" Ed asked softly as he stood up and looked over towards the currently shouting adults, the ring necklace held firmly in his gloved hand as he interrupted their heated argument. Eric… or rather Ethan looked at him in surprise for a few moments before he held out his hand expectantly, and Ed plopped the ring and chain into his callused hand. The twenty-year old looked down at the necklace in his hand for several seconds before he let out a world-weary sigh and closed his fist over the metal chain, bringing his other hand up to massage the bridge of his nose as he did so.

"Damn, it looks like I have a lot of explaining to do," he muttered wearily before he looked over at Mustang. "Is there someplace private we can go so I can talk? What I have to say… it's not for everyone's ears."

Mustang arched a disbelieving eyebrow and was about to say something when Hughes interrupted him.

"Roy, you might want to hear what this kid has to say," the dark-haired man said as he looked straight into his friend's eyes, his expression dead serious. "If it will make you feel any better, I'll vouch for him."

The Colonel's jaw dropped fractionally in shock as he gaped at Hughes for a few seconds before he was able to recover enough of his dignity to pull himself together, and he gave the Lt. Colonel a speculative look as a slight frown crossed his face.

"You knew about this, Maes?" he asked warily, and let out a frustrated sigh as the other man gave a silent nod of affirmation.

"Why am I not surprised?" Mustang muttered as he reached up and began to massage the bridge of his nose, already beginning to feel the faint warnings of the mother of all migraines. "Alright Private Thomas, we'll discuss this matter elsewhere. But first I think you need to give us some straight answers… after we've straightened up this fiasco."

Ethan looked around at the destruction that covered the front of Central HQ and nodded, adopting a slightly withdrawn expression as he went over and started to help some of the other soldiers with cleanup, steadily ignoring the suspicious looks that Havoc, Breda, and Falman were currently giving him. Ed arched an eyebrow as he watched the man for a few moments before he gave Al a meaningful look and went over to help the twenty-year old shift some rubble from the corpse of a soldier that had been skewered by Lust.

The teenage alchemist didn't notice the grateful look that Ethan shot him as he helped move a large chunk of torn-up stone, but Alphonse did.

--

"Nggghhh…" Annora groaned as she opened her eyes and sat up, holding her head with her right hand as she looked around her. She had the mother of all headaches, not to mention the fact that her entire body felt like it had been run through a meat grinder. The teenager frowned slightly as she looked around at the dark room that she was currently in before she realized that she was laying on a bed.

"What the hell happened?" she whispered quietly as she slid over to the edge of the bed and headed over towards where the door should be. "Did I pass out or something during the fight, and Ed or Al brought me back?"

The sixteen-year old gave a mental shrug as she moved towards the door, silently reasoning that she could just asked her friends what had happened, only to hit the bedroom wall with a loud 'thwack!'. Annora cursed colorfully as she took a step back away from the wall and glared at the dark shape in front of her, rubbing her abused nose ruefully.

"Dammit, where the hell did that come from?!" she growled as she stood there in the dark and waited for her vision to adjust, scowling slightly. "I swear, if I got kidnapped again, I'm going to start cracking some skulls."

Muttering some very disturbing threats underneath her breath, Annora waited until her vision had shifted from straight black to a more visible shade of grays. She spotted the door out of the room a few feet off to her left, and opened it. It wasn't locked, much to her surprise, and she cautiously made her way out into the hallway, trying her best to be quiet. Unfortunately, when she reached the stairs and put her foot down on the top step, it creaked loud enough to wake the dead.

The sixteen-year old yanked her foot off of the step like she had been burned and cringed, waiting for god knows what to come charging up the stairs out after her blood. Instead, she heard what sounded like a large hamster wheel squeaking downstairs, accompanied by a familiar soft thud as something landed on a platform. Annora froze as the blood slowly drained from her face, a chilling realization nagging at the back of her mind.

"… _I could make it so that you could never see your friends again."_

"_Which friends?"_

_Silence._

"_Damn it, answer me! Which friends?!"_

"No way… no, no way," Annora gasped as she hurried down the stairs, terrified of what she might see. Her badly worn sneakers slipped on the polished wooden stairs as she scrabbled into the darkened living room, her hand automatically reaching down to hit the switch of a small night-light.

The night-light flipped on, bathing the familiar room in a dim glow, as well as a large cage with a familiar whiskered face peering at her curiously from in between the metal bars.

"Remmy?" the sixteen-year old muttered as she hesitantly approached the cage, kneeling down in front of the door and opening it. "Rembrandt?"

The gray and white mottled chinchilla leapt into her arms, and for a few seconds Annora was at a total loss at what to do before realization hit her like a brick. After three months of being stuck in some other world, she was _home_.

Tears started to well up in the sixteen-year old's eyes as she clutched her pet close to her chest, running her fingers through his fluffy fur almost incredulously.

"I'm home," she whispered hoarsely as she sat down the wooden floorboards with a barely audible 'thump', oblivious to the chinchilla pulling on a few strands of her hair and chewing on them. "I… I'm really home…"

Annora sat there for several long minutes as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea that everything, Ed, Al, the military, and the homunculi… were all nothing more than a dream now. Tears started to stream down her face as the teenager tried to hold back a choked sob, cradling a bemused Rembrandt in her arms. She was back in a world where her brother was still dead… where the two people she considered to be good friends didn't exist… and she didn't even get to say goodbye!

Tears started to stream down her face as she realized just how far her brother and her friends were from her. She'd probably never be able to see any of them again…

"I-I know I should be happy to be home… but…" the sixteen-year old trailed off as she stared off into space, wishing for one brief moment that this was all a dream and that she could wake up back in Amestris. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Annora hissed a curse as she straightened up and shook her head in an attempt to clear away the traitorous thought, shame coursing through her. If she just disappeared from here, what would that do to her parents, to lose both of their children at once?

"This sucks," Annora whispered bitterly as she let out a frustrated sigh before putting Rembrandt back into his cage and shutting the door. Getting to her feet, the teenager headed over to the stairs and headed back up to her room.

As she entered her bedroom and flipped on the light, she numbly slid her letterman's jacket off, tossing it onto the floor carelessly and ignoring the grime smeared onto it. Her badly battered tennis shoes soon followed suit, and were promptly kicked out into the hall so she could throw them in the trash in the morning. Annora cast a weary glance over at her jacket before deciding to beat out the worst of the dust and gunk before giving the coat a through dousing of Febreeze once she'd had a shower. She'd see about getting it properly cleaned later, maybe when she wasn't emotionally exhausted.

The teenager went over to her dresser and pulled out a clean set of pajamas, as well as a sports bra and underwear. Right now all she wanted to do was get clean, and throw all of her clothes in the hamper out in the hall so they wouldn't stink up her room. Everything she had on smelled like a disgusting blend of old blood, fear, wet dog, dust, and slobber.

"Eau de homunculus attack," Annora muttered dryly as she went into the hall bathroom and shut the door, setting her clean clothing on the counter just as she caught a glimpse of her reflection out of the corner of her eye. The sixteen-year old turned around and looked at her reflection steadily, her eyes widening marginally as a slightly bewildered frown twitching about her lips. She no longer looked like an anime character.

Even though she expected it, it was still a bit of a shock for her to see her normal reflection after three months of being in Amestris. All this really did though was hammer in the fact that she was now permanently separated from her friends.

Silently, Annora shed her filthy clothing and tossed it out into the hallway, planning on taking care of it after her shower. The teenager got into the tub and turned the water on, making sure that it was warm enough for her, before she flicked on the showerhead. For several long moments she stood directly under the spray, letting the warm water beat down on her face as she tried to ignore the hot burning feeling that stung at the corners of her eyes.

'_The good thing about showers… nobody can tell that you've been crying.'_

By the time that Annora finally got out of the bathroom and took care of her dirty clothing, it was well after one in the morning. The teenager didn't even bother to look at the spot by her door where her backpack should have been as she collapsed onto her bed, flipping off her light as she did so.

It was going to be a long night.

--

Everything felt wrong to her.

Getting on the bus so she could go to school that morning felt… off, for lack of a better word. Annora sat right in the very back, her headphones on and blaring as she listened to Breaking Benjamin on her CD player, and giving any of the idiotic jocks that tried to sit next to her the 'you-try-anything, you-even-_think_-about-bugging-me, and-I-will-personally-rip-your-balls-off-with-a-wooden-spoon, shove-them-down-your-throat, and-make-you-**like**-it' look. Needless to say, the guys who would have usually made some smart-ass remarks about her gave her a wide berth, sensing that the teenager was in an obvious 'do not fuck with me' mood.

Thank God it was Friday; otherwise she probably would have made up some bullshit excuse about being sick so she didn't have to go to school. Unfortunately finals were next week, so that probably wouldn't have been the smartest idea in the world. Annora knew her English teacher already hated her guts, so it wouldn't be a good idea to give her any excuses to give her an 'F'.

Not to mention the fact that flunking a class would go over with her parents about as well as the proverbial shit in a punch bowl.

The sixteen-year old let out a long sigh as she watched the snowy streets of Flagstaff fly by outside her window, silently wishing that she was already at school so she could do something, anything to keep her mind off of Amestris, and a certain temperamental alchemist. Annora groaned as the realization that she had lost all of her textbooks hit her, and she muttered a curse as she slowly allowed her forehead to collide with the window pane. Great, now she'd have to explain why she was suddenly missing all of her books.

As if things couldn't get any worse.

"I hate my life," the teenager growled under her breath as she glared out at the snow-covered streets, and let out a weary sigh as the bus pulled up behind her high school. Silently the sixteen-year old stood up and slung the strap of her brown fabric messenger bag over her shoulder before she exited the bus among a crowd of other teenagers.

--

Katie let out an exhausted groan as she flopped down in her chair for her first period English class. Even though they had all gotten an unexpected week off from school due to an unusually heavy snowfall for the beginning of December, as well as a student's wonderful contribution to the foul odors that _already_ permeated the main building due to the crap concocted by the lunch ladies on the ground floor by setting off a slew of stink bombs in the ventilation system, she **really** didn't want to be here.

"Annora's so lucky; she doesn't even have to worry about school right now," the dark-haired girl muttered as she stared listlessly at the chalkboard at the front of the room, her glasses resting slightly skewed on the bridge of her nose. "I wish **I** could go to Amestris and travel all over the place with Ed and Al. That would be awesome… and I could meet Envy-kun!"

The sixteen-year old heaved a long-suffering sigh as ignored the sounds of people entering the classroom, too wrapped up in her daydreams of romancing the green-haired Sin. She didn't even notice when someone plopped down in the seat next to her until a familiar sarcastic voice met her ears.

"You know, I don't know which is more disturbing; the fact that you're currently staring off into space and drooling, or the fact that you're daydreaming about the homicidal nutjob who tried to kill me while you're spacing out."

Katie jerked in her seat as she spun around to see the speaker, and her eyes widened in shock as she stared incredulously at her friend.

"Annora?" she asked hesitantly, and the taller girl gave a slightly strained smile as she gave a small wave in response before she shoved a brown messenger bag underneath her desk with her foot.

"The one and only," the teen muttered as she slumped down in her seat. "So, how's it going, Katie?"

"Fine… I guess," Katie admitted before she leaned in closer and whispered urgently. "Annora, what are you doing here? I thought that you were still in Amestris."

Annora stiffened up in her seat noticeably, her brown eyes widening before she forced herself to let out a shaky sigh and ran a hand nervously through her bangs.

"I got sent back," she said finally, the look in her eyes saying that there was more to the story than what she was actually saying. Katie frowned slightly before she arched an eyebrow curiously at her friend's comment.

"How?"

"I… I'm not quite sure, but I know for a fact that little brat Wrath was involved," the sixteen-year old growled sourly, a dark expression flashing across her face as she drummed her fingers reflectively on her desk. "From what I could tell, he used some kind of alchemic attack the exact same time I was trying to transmute something so I could boot his whiny, annoying little ass straight into the next time zone."

"So, he summoned the Gate?" Katie ventured hesitantly, and Annora nodded as she bent down and hauled a plain white plastic binder out of her messenger bag.

"Yeah, and I got sucked into it," the teenager remarked as she pulled out a pencil and a sheet of notebook paper. "I don't know how, but I woke up in my room at home, and I'm not really going to complain about it since there are places a hell of a lot worse that I could have woken up in."

"Like in the back alley of the red light district?"

"… that would probably have been the worst-case scenario."

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm just saying how it could have been worse."

"You disturb me."

"Awww… Annora, I'm hurt."

"Katie, it was people like you that inspired aspirin."

The other girl frowned as Annora leveled a dirty glare in her direction before she tried, and failed, to adopt the classic 'innocent puppy-dog' look. The sixteen-year old let out a slight huff of annoyance before she nervously ran a hand over her hair.

"Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted, the reason I know it wasn't all a dream is that I'm missing my backpack, along with everything that was in it, I felt like I got run over by a semi, the clothes I had on smelled like smoke, blood, dirt, and dog, and I had a pair of horribly maimed and shredded gloves with transmutation circles on them on my hands," Annora said as she looked down at her hands, and for the first time Katie noticed the bandages wrapped around her friend's palms, as well as the large band-aid covering a cut on her left cheek. "You know… I'm starting to wonder whether or not I lost my mind…"

"You haven't lost you mind," Katie insisted as she shot Annora a warning look, who was currently staring at the sheet of paper in front of her. "It's just… what happened… it's difficult to explain, and hard to think about."

"You're telling me."

"So, are you okay?" she finally asked, and Annora gave a short, harsh laugh that was totally unlike her.

"No, not really. This entire time… ever since I fell into Amestris, all I really wanted to do was go home… but now I miss the people I met and knew there. Looks like I can't win either way, huh?" she admitted as she gave her friend a pained grin. "I don't really see why they'd even care that I'm gone anyways. They're probably all relieved that I'm out of their hair, and it's not like I was there long enough to leave any lasting impressions."

"Annora, any presence, no matter how small, will _always_ leave an impression," Katie stated firmly as she reached out and patted the other girl sympathetically on the back. The teenager made a small noise of disbelief in the back of her throat as she started to idly doodle something on her notebook paper, unaware of the fact that her friend was watching her draw from over her shoulder.

"So, how long was I gone?" Annora asked offhandedly as she sketched. Katie gave a wry grin at her friend's attempted nonchalance before she answered.

"Only about a week. You disappeared last Thursday, so you missed school Friday, but I called in for you and said that you had the flu. On Sunday night we had a huge snowstorm blow through, so Monday was a snow day, and it seemed like every night after that, except for last night, we had a lot of snow, so you only really missed school on Friday."

The sixteen-year old gave her friend a grateful smile as she went back o her drawing. As the familiar features of a certain State Alchemist and his brother began to take shape, Katie opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by their English teacher walking into the room.

"Great, Satan has arrived," the raven-haired girl hissed as she tugged warningly on the sleeve of Annora's jacket. The sixteen-year old looked up and scowled at the older woman that was currently jotting things down on the chalkboard up at the front of the room before she hastily stuffed her drawing into her binder.

Until she had met Envy, Annora had never thought that she would feel that much dislike for any one person as she did with Ms. Baker. The last time that Ms. Baker had found her drawing before class started, she had taken her entire sketchbook and criticized her artwork before throwing it in the trashcan, saying that it was nothing more than childish junk and that it needed to go where it belonged. Katie had somehow managed to sneak up before class had gotten out and retrieved the sketchbook, so Annora hadn't lost all of her drawings and art assignments.

Unfortunately, this little incident had fostered a burning hatred for the older woman within the entire class. That, and her sadistic tendency to assign homework and classwork with impossibly short due dates.

Ms. Baker scrutinized the assembled group of teens in front of her for several moments before she let out a muffled snort, obviously one of disapproval.

"Well, now that we've come back from our little… unexpected vacation… some of us sooner than others," she announced smugly, and Annora flushed angrily at the hidden barb, biting down on the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't say something stupid. She had disappeared last Thursday, and as a result missed class on Friday. "I think that a pop quiz is in order."

The older woman's grin widened even further as several kids called out in protest, especially since they had just started on Shakespeare the last school day before the snow day was called. Ms. Baker stayed silent for several moments, a diabolical smirk creeping across her face as the watched the students groan, voice protests, and in Annora's case, mutter a curse under her breath as she slumped forward and smacked her head on her desk.

"Hmm, do you all not want to do the pop quiz then?" the woman asked innocently, and was almost blown over by the resounding "YES!" that was shouted at her. "Very well. Since you don't want to do the quiz, we'll have a new assignment."

"Oh hell," Annora whispered softly to Katie. "Why do I suddenly have a really bad feeling about this?"

"That's because you're sane."

"You are to compose a sonnet," Ms. Baker said with a nauseatingly sweet smile on her face as groans and protests rippled through the students, crashing down on their inhumane teacher. "You will have until the end of the class period to do this." The protests increased by at least tenfold. "And it's worth sixty percent of your final grade, no exceptions."

Everyone fell silent as they all glared balefully at their teacher, silently praying that lightning would strike what had to be the devil in disguise. Or that she would at least spontaneously combust right in front of them, that way they could all witness her demise.

Unfortunately, there was also a running bet that Ms. Baker slept in a coffin, and either fire or a wooden stake through the heart would be needed to successfully eliminate the evil in human form.

You would be surprised at how much of the class would have done the Snoopy dance at their teacher being reduced to something that they could suck up with a Dust Buster.

"Evil hag!" Katie hissed angrily as she glared up at Ms. Baker, and Annora just nodded silently in response before she reached down under her desk and pulled the textbook out from under her seat. The sixteen-year old flipped through the book for a few moments before she came to the section on sonnets, and let out a sigh as she let the book lay open on a page with a sonnet written by Shakespeare printed on it, with the syntax layout for the poem on the opposite page.

"Why do I have the feeling that dear old Willie Shakespeare is going to be having an aneurism by the end of the day?" Annora muttered to Katie as she started coming up with ideas for her sonnet, a slight frown crossing her face.

"Why's that?"

"Because he's going to have a bunch of high-schoolers butchering some of his best poems. I think that would give anyone a reason to go on a rampage."

"So we're going to have some 500-year old English playwright come after us as a zombie? That's a lovely thought. Do you think we can convince him to eat Ms. Baker first?"

"Only if we bribe him, and cover her with barbeque sauce, 'cause she'd probably taste awful," the teenager said as she gave a nonchalant shrug, writing down the lines of her poem as they came to her on a sheet of notebook paper, stopping and counting every few lines to make sure that she was keeping up with the correct syntax. "You'd better get going on your poem; otherwise you'll get in trouble."

Katie muttered a curse under her breath as she dove into her own poem, cursing her teacher silently with everything she had as she started jolting down lines. Annora arched an eyebrow when she caught snatches of what her friend was grumbling before a wry smile crossed her face. She never knew that Katie even **knew** some of those words, much less used them.

Maybe she was a bad influence.

Stifling a chuckle at the thought, the sixteen-year old returned her attention to her own sonnet and resumed writing, finding it surprisingly easy to print the words that seemed to correspond to her feelings.

By the end of the period, only a few people had actually managed to finish their sonnets, and out of those few, most of them had just thrown some random crap together in the hopes that their teacher would at least accept it. Annora stayed seated as she read over her sonnet for a few moments, making sure that everything was a good as she could make it in the amount of time that she had been given. With a sigh, the teenager got to her feet and headed up to the front of the room, where she lay her poem down on top of the small stack that was already there. Before she could even move to go back to her seat, she felt a chill creep down her spine as Ms. Baker came up behind her.

"Well well, what's this Miss Thomas?" the older woman asked in a deceptively curious tone, her gray eyes boring into the teen's own brown ones. "You finished your sonnet already? I'm amazed."

Annora forced herself to bite back the scathing retort that immediately came to mind at the woman's depreciating comment, schooling her face into a neutral look.

"It just seemed really easy," she said nervously, and silently cursed when a sadistic gleam flashed through her teacher's eyes.

"Really? Well then, I don't suppose that you would mind if I read your sonnet out loud for the class to hear then, would you?" Ms. Baker said as a slow smirk crossed her face, and Annora was faintly reminded of Envy as she stared at the older woman. "Return to your seat Miss Thomas, and then I'll read your… artistic endeavor."

Annora silently called the woman every foul name she could possibly think of as she tried to calmly walk back to her desk, and tried not to cringe as her teacher started reading her sonnet out loud to the entire class.

"There is so oft' what one may never see

We stroll by unmindful of another

Through snow, and rain, and the warm summer breeze

Relying on sight alone, miss the other.

A fading pain, a feeling of great loss,

Is all that informs us of what we missed.

Laugh if you wish, lost love's a pained cost

If you think only that we never kissed.

Once we meet, the mem'ry never fades

Like a stoked fire, fanned to a flaming blaze

We search each other out, even if in Hades

Nothing can hide us, not even a heavy haze.

When your arms are around me, I can't cry

But all that I ask is teach me to fly."

By the time Ms. Baker was done reading, Annora's entire face was as red as a tomato, and the top of her head was barely even visible over the top of her desk, seeing as she had continuously sunk down lower and lower in her seat during her teacher's recital of her sonnet. The older woman shot the humiliated teenager a calculating look as a knowing smirk flickered across her lips, setting the sheet of notebook paper down with the rest of the sonnets.

"So Miss Thomas, who's the lucky boy?" the teacher asked, and her smirk widened as she watched Annora redden even more at the question.

"Nobody," the sixteen-year old managed to force out as she tried to retain what little was left of her dignity, only to have it shattered like a dropped glass as her English teacher let out a mocking laugh.

"It sure doesn't sound that way. However, the boy that has actually attracted the affections of a scruffy, lovesick little tomboy like you has my sympathy. You'll never be anything more than one of 'the guys' to him, the person that he'll go to when he needs help getting a gift for his real girlfriend for her-"

RIIINGG!!

Annora was never so happy to hear the dismissal bell ring in her life as she snatched up her binder and shoved it haphazardly into her messenger bag before she flung it over her shoulder and bolted out the door before everyone else. The teenager made it down to the end of the hallway before Katie caught up to her, grabbing a hold of the back of her friend's jacket in an attempt to pull her to a stop.

"Annora, stop it!" she pleaded desperately, catching the look of total humiliation and anguish, with a little bit of outrage thrown into the mix, on her best friend's face. "You're the one always telling me not to let that bitch get to me! Now I'm telling you not to listen to her!!"

The taller girl looked back at Katie before she sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, trying desperately to get her feelings back under control. Once she was able to shove the total humiliation aside, a deep raging fury overcame her.

"God, I **hate** that bitch!!" Annora snarled as she made a violent motion in midair, her brown eyes narrowed dangerously. "What the hell did I **ever** do to her to deserve that?!"

"Apparently your very existence offends her," Katie remarked dourly with a roll of her eyes before she looked down at her watch. "Look, geometry's in three minutes, so we'd better head downstairs before the bell rings so we're not late."

"Oh thank god. Mrs. Harkner is actually sane, and she knows how to teach without being a total hag too," the sixteen-year old sighed before she winced as a thought hit her. "Do you think she'll be okay if I turn in last week's assignment in on Monday? I kind of… well, lost it."

Katie arched an eyebrow as she gave Annora sideways glance before she gave a sympathetic smile. "Well, I don't know about that one, since we don't have Mrs. Harkner anymore…"

"Say WHAT?!"

"Annora, she left on maternity leave last Friday. We have a new math teacher now."

"Oh yeah… I forgot about that. So, who's the new teacher?"

The raven-haired girl let out a small giggle at her friend's question, giving the other teen cause to look at her strangely and take a precautionary step away from her. Katie immediately sobered up, although she couldn't help but grin as she looked over at Annora.

"Well, his name is Gregory Trevor, and… he's really cute."

If it had been at all possible, Annora would have sweatdropped as she stared at the bespectacled girl, a slight frown crossing her face as she arched an eyebrow.

"You think… our new math teacher… is cute," she said slowly in a tone that indicated she thought that Katie had lost her mind. "Kate, I hate to break it to you, but you've lost it."

"You know, my psychiatrist says that I've lost my marbles too, but what does he know?" the girl argued. "My marbles are in a plastic bag in my closet."

"Yet more proof to my statement," Annora stated blandly as they drew up to their classroom and walked in through the open door, heading to their respective seats.

"You're mean!"

"Tough."

The teenager considered their odd little conversation over as she flopped down in her chair near the back of the room and pulled out the book underneath her desk, at least until a familiar voice caused her to jerk her head up and let out a startled yelp as she tried to jerk backwards, only to fall out of her seat and flat on her ass as she stared at the teacher in absolute disbelief. Annora felt her jaw damn near hit the floor as she gaped incredulously at the man standing at the front of her classroom, completely oblivious to the stares she was getting from the rest of the class.

There, standing up at the whiteboard with the attendance sheet in hand, wearing a pressed blue button-up long-sleeved shirt, black slacks, and a tie, stood Greed. The thought of running out of the classroom screaming briefly crossed the teenager's mind as she struggled to get her brain working properly again.

"Ho-ly shit…" Annora managed to whisper hoarsely as she looked at Greed, who merely arched a dark eyebrow at her reaction before a look of understanding flashed through his… wait a sec, **blue** eyes?!

"Well, I never thought that geometry was something to get _that_ excited about," he drawled before he grinned slightly at the teen. "Or perhaps you were referring to the fact of having a new teacher?"

"Uhh… yes sir. I'm sorry about that," Annora said nervously as she got to her feet and sat back down at her desk, trying not to freak out over the fact that the _homunculus_ who had kidnapped her was currently her new geometry teacher. "I wasn't here last Friday."

"Oh, so you would be Annora Thomas than, correct?" Greed asked as he looked down at the roster sheet. "Yes, your friend told me that you weren't feeling well. I trust that you're feeling better this week?"

"Yes sir," the teenager whispered as she stared fixedly down at her math book, trying not to let the man know just **how** freaked out she really was. The homunculus looked at her oddly before he let out a loud laugh.

"Kid, you don't need to keep 'yes sir'-ing me like you're in the military," he chuckled as he ran a hand over his short-ish black hair. "You can either call me Greg or Mr. Trevor, but don't call me sir. It makes me feel old."

Annora blinked as she looked up at the older man, her eyes widening slightly at the sudden realization that hit her. Maybe this man… **wasn't** Greed, maybe he only looked like him. As the teenager was puzzling over the possibilities, as well as the continued doubts of her own sanity, Mr. Trevor looked over at her before he set the attendance sheet down on the podium up front.

"Annora, after the lesson, I'd like for you to come back to my desk so we can discuss what you missed last week," he said evenly, and the sixteen-year old nodded in agreement, before he turned around and launched into the lesson. Hesitating slightly for a few moments, the girl watched her new teacher before she started writing down the information on the whiteboard, shoving all thoughts of Amestris and Mr. Trevor's uncanny resemblance to Greed out of her mind. Annora made sure that she took notes throughout the entire thing, and once the lesson was over, jolted down the homework assignment for that weekend in the margin at the top of the page.

While the rest of her classmates got started on their homework, the teenager got up out of her seat and approached Mr. Trevor's desk at the back of the room, where the man was grading last week's homework that the rest of the class had handed in earlier. Annora waited for a few moments, shifting nervously from foot to foot as she watched her new teacher grade the assignments before he set them down and looked up at her.

"So, did you understand today's lesson?" the dark-haired man asked, and Annora nodded once in agreement as she tried not to fidget.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm that far behind. I just need to catch up on the two homework assignments that I missed while I was sick and I'll be okay," she said before she gave a slightly nervous laugh at Mr. Trevor's questioning look. "Umm… the homework that was due last Friday… I kind of lost it, and my book, so I was wondering if it was okay if I stopped by after school and borrowed one of the class books so I could get it all done over the weekend."

"Well, I don't see a problem with that as long as you get the book back to me before class starts on Monday," the teacher said evenly. Annora was about to give her thanks when an odd look flashed through her instructor's eyes, and she hesitated as he suddenly looked at her speculatively, a slight frown crossing his face before it turned into a knowing grin.

"You know, I'm curious as to why you reacted the way you did when you saw me earlier," Mr. Trevor said calmly, and Annora felt a slight thrill of unease run through her as she stared back at her math teacher.

"I wasn't expecting a new teacher yet to be honest," she said with an embarrassed laugh, lying through her teeth. "At first I thought I was in somebody else's classroom."

"Hmm… is that so?" Mr. Trevor smiled suddenly as he gave the girl a knowing look. "You know, you really shouldn't lie to your teachers… doll."

Annora felt her blood run cold as she stared wide-eyed at the man currently grinning at her, and immediately took a precautionary step back as her feet automatically shifted into a fighting position.

"Greed?" she asked nervously, and was rewarded with that familiar knowing chuckle issuing from the homunculi's throat as he leaned back in his chair, giving her a speculative look.

"You got it, kid," Greed said as he lightly clapped his hands a few times in a slightly mocking applause, although there was a look in his eyes that told the teen he wasn't making fun of her. "Although I can honestly say that I never expected to see you of all people here."

"What? Why?"

"Listen doll, do you even have any idea where this place is?" the homunculus asked, and Annora pulled a face as she looked down at the ground, scuffing at the tiled floor idly with the toe of her hiking boot.

"Yeah, I think it's the other side of the Gate," she stated simply with a frown before she looked up at Greed and caught the astonished look on his face. "And yes, before you even ask, I am originally from here."

The homunculus blinked in surprise as he stared at the teenager, both of his eyebrows arching all the way up into his hairline as he regarded Annora with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief. Annora frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes upwards, muttering something under her breath about men being idiots.

"Then what about the whole deal with the Fullmetal pipsqueak?"

"Look, I don't know **how** I ended up in Amestris, but I did about a week ago…well, it was a week ago here. The only reason I even ended up with Ed and Al was because… well, Mustang kind of ordered them to keep an eye on me until further notice… the bastard," the sixteen-year old grumbled mutinously before she fixed the man currently posing as her teacher with a suspicious look. "But how the hell did **you** get here?"

To her surprise, Greed actually winced as he leaned forward and started shuffling through the papers on his desk, trying to look like he was working as he spoke with the confused teenager.

"I died," he stated flatly, and hastily elaborated on his situation when he caught the shocked look planted on Annora's face. "I'm not going to tell you how, so you'll have to ask your little alchemist friend about it if you ever get the chance. But anyways, after I died, I ended up at the Gate, somehow. It sucked me in, and then I was falling through the air, in a way I guess, before I fell into something. The next thing I know, I'm in some human's body, but he looks just like me… with a few subtle differences."

"Wait a sec… so you're saying that you're really…?"

"Yes, while I am… or was, the homunculus Greed, I'm also the man Gregory Trevor. It took a couple days for me to get used to it, especially the part where's he's a teacher," the man muttered as he ran a hand through his hair. "The gods must enjoy the irony."

"Unfortunately I think it's not just you they enjoy fucking with," Annora grumbled bitterly as she stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets. Greed arched an eyebrow before a teasing smirk crossed his face.

"Language; you're in school right now," he said simply, and the teenager shot him a dirty look in response.

"You know, you sound like a teacher now."

"You say that like it's an insult."

"That's probably because it was. You actually have to work for a living like the rest of the world now."

"I am in control of your grade now; you do realize that, right?" Greed pointed out with a slight smirk, and Annora frowned slightly before she rolled her eyes upwards.

"Great," she sighed dramatically. "I'm doomed."

The former homunculus chuckled a bit at her dramatics before he looked up at the clock on the wall.

"You should probably get back to your seat," he pointed out as he returned to grading the homework. "The bell's going to ring in about five minutes."

"Now you really do sound like a teacher."

"Shut up, brat, and get to work."

The teenager fought the urge to stick her tongue out at the older man, although that didn't stop her from giving him a slightly cheeky grin. Greed just sighed and rolled his eyes upwards before he pointed meaningfully at her desk. Annora arched an eyebrow as she glanced down at her watch, frowning slightly before she turned around and headed back to her seat so she could at least get started on tonight's homework. However, when Katie started poking the teenager in the small of her back with her pencil, she started to have doubts that she'd actually get anything done.

"Katie, not now," she growled warningly as she shot a glare over her shoulder. She did **not** want to be doing homework all weekend!

"But what did Mr. Trevor say?" the raven-haired girl whined pleadingly as she continued to prod her friend in the back.

"For you to get a life," Annora snapped as she turned around and resumed working on the math problems in her book. "Katie, it was about my missing assignments. It has nothing to do with you, geez."

"But you were back there for so long…"

"Katie, I missed a bunch of stuff. Drop it."

"But-"

"Katie," Annora whirled around in her seat and glared daggers at her friend, a dangerous gleam in her eyes as she glowered at the shorter girl. "Drop. It."

Before the bespectacled girl could say anything, the bell rang, and Annora immediately threw her stuff into her messenger bag before she flung it over her shoulder and stalked out of the room. She really didn't want to deal with any of this right now.

--

"So that's it then," Mustang stated with a frown on his face as he leaned back in his chair, giving Ethan the evil eye. "You and your sister are from some… other world where alchemy doesn't exist, and there is no such country as Amestris. You also claimed to have a form of amnesia on certain… subjects, at least until you saw your sister, which apparently acted as a trigger for the return of your memories. And you, a member of the 'American' military of your country, somehow ended up here, and **deliberately** lied to us in an attempt to-"

"I did it because I didn't know what the hell was going on!!" Ethan roared as he shot up out of his seat and glared at his commanding officer, his fists clenched tightly against his sides. "Don't you dare go making assumptions about me when you have NO FUCKING CLUE why I did it!!"

The two men were currently in Mustang's office, with Armstrong standing guard at the door, while Hawkeye, Hughes, Breda, Havoc, Falman, Fuery, Ed, and Al all sat assembled in an assortment of chairs that been pulled in so they could all discuss the current change in events. Right now both Ethan and Mustang were within ten seconds of going for each other's throats, and to hell with the consequences.

"And do you know what the penalty for spying is?" the Flame Alchemist retorted coldly. "Here in Amestris you face the firing squad. I'm fairly certain that the military in your world doesn't look too kindly on spies either. If I were you boy, I'd-"

**BAM BAM BAM!!**

Mustang and Ethan both stared wordlessly at the bullet holes in the wall only inches from their faces before they turned around slightly to look at Hawkeye, who had her still-smoking gun out and aimed directly at both men.

"Colonel, Private, I suggest that both of you stop shouting and discuss this civilly," the stern woman stated calmly, ignoring the fact that she had just made two full-grown men damn near wet themselves. Ed, despite the seriousness of the situation, couldn't help but bite back a snicker at the fact that he was able to witness Mustang get his ass reamed by the First Lieutenant.

Alphonse just sighed and shook his head as he carefully held Twilight in his gauntleted hands, the collie puppy having gone into a frantic meltdown mode when Annora disappeared without a trace. So pretty much it was his job now to keep the young canine calm, at least until they could locate their missing friend.

"I'll discuss this calmly when Private Thomas stops lying about his origins," Mustang commented tartly as he shot Ethan a filthy look. The younger soldier merely responded in kind with a similar look as he arched an eyebrow before he calmly flipped the older man the bird.

The obscene meaning behind the gesture was not lost on the Flame Alchemist, and before anyone could even blink Mustang had his fingers together and snapped them, unleashing a tongue of flame at the sandy-haired Private. Reacting instantly, Ed lashed out with his right foot and knocked Ethan's feet out from underneath him, sending the taller man sprawling flat on his back as the controlled burst of fire flashed overhead. Before anyone else could do something, Hawkeye fired her gun at Mustang once again, and this time she aimed dangerously close to valuable male body parts, reducing the famed and feared Flame Alchemist into a blubbering mass collapsed at her feet.

"Y'know Colonel Bastard, I don't think Annora would appreciate you incinerating her brother after she went through all that heartache after being told that he was dead," Ed stated dryly as he addressed the quivering heap that was his superior. "Remember what she did as payback the last time you did something to her?"

Ethan snorted as he got to his feet, eyeing the gloves that Mustang still had on warily.

"What did she do?" he asked with a shaky grin. Ed flashed a knowing smirk at the older man, knowing that the Private realized that he was trying to lighten the mood so that nobody tried to take anyone's head off.

"She passed around pictures of him in a skirt."

The twenty-year old blinked a few times before he started howling with laughter, collapsing back in his seat as he placed a hand over his face. Mustang just muttered something under his breath about demon spawn as he attempted to ignore Ethan's obvious amusement.

"Yep, that's definitely my sister," he chuckled. "She always did know how to get me back for some of the junk that I pulled on her when we were kids."

Ed arched an eyebrow at the older man's comment while Hawkeye shot the younger soldier a meaningful look, and Ethan sighed as he got back on the subject.

"Look, I didn't exactly expect everything to go all FUBAR on me," he muttered as he ran a hand through his short dirty-blonde hair, knocking some dust left over from the homunculi's attack loose. "Hell, I barely even knew who I was up until about two hours ago."

Mustang arched an eyebrow as he regained his usual arrogant attitude. "And what exactly do you mean by 'FUBAR'?"

"FUBAR: Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. It's an acronym," Ethan stated shortly. "We used it a lot back in Iraq when things went down the crapper. And if this isn't a shitty situation, I don't know what is." The young man let out a sigh as he tried to pull himself together before he looked up at the man who was now his commanding officer, a slight frown evident on his face. "Look, Colonel, right now all I want to do is find my sister, nothing else. I could care less of what you might think about me right now, but I have to find Annora, and I'll do it with or without your approval."

Mustang eyed the younger man staring up at him with determination evident on his face before he let out a sigh and shook his head.

"I'm getting too soft," he muttered before he faced Ethan sternly. "Alright then, for now we'll allow you to remain in your original position in the military while you try to figure out what happened to your sister. Fullmetal can help you with any alchemic research that you may need, since you obviously have no clue about the workings of alchemy."

"What the-," Ed began, only to have Al clap a hand over his brother's mouth before something foul could emerge, and nodded in agreement to the Colonel's orders while the older Elric raged and flailed about wildly in his armored arms. Mustang ignored the ruckus going on behind him as he turned around to face the rest of his subordinates, his dark eyes narrowing slightly as he focused on the somewhat anxious man standing besides Havoc.

"Private Thomas, may I also make it perfectly clear that you are to accompanied at all times by at least one senior officer, at least until you have proved yourself deserving of our trust," he stated bluntly, and was rewarded with Ethan turning slightly red with outrage while Havoc and the others all looked annoyed. Hughes let out an exasperated sigh as he rolled his eyes upwards and clapped a hand over his face, muttering something under his breath about Roy going too far as he tried to hold Ethan back, and failed.

"And why do I have to do this?" the younger man all but growled as he stepped forward, hazel eyes boring a hole into his CO's own dark ones. "Why the hell do you need to assign a bunch of babysitters to me when I am more than capable of taking care of myself?"

Mustang looked right at the younger soldier and leveled a non-nonsense glare at him, a frown crossing his face as he stared stiffly at the Private.

"I think you know exactly why you'll need 'babysitters', **Ethan**," the Flame Alchemist stated coldly, giving the younger man a frigid look before he spun around to face the rest of his subordinates. "So, who feels up to the task of watching Private Thomas for the evening?"

Almost immediately everyone started shouting out protests, stating the reasons why they could not before they hastily excused themselves from the room.

"Gracia's got a girl's night out scheduled with some of her friends, so I have to watch Elysia tonight," Hughes said as he ducked out the door, waving goodbye to his higher-ranking friend. "I'm afraid that I can't do anything for tonight. See ya in the morning, Roy."

"We've got files to go through," Breda and Falman said simultaneously before they bolted out of the room, leaving their commanding officer staring slack-jawed at the spot that they had been occupying only seconds before.

"I've got a date," Havoc stated shortly before he practically sprinted from the room, not waiting for Mustang to sabotage yet another one of his relationships. Ironically, Ethan had been the one who had set him up with this particular girl, and he was really hoping that things would work out tonight.

Ed and Al just exchanged knowing glances before they gathered up Twilight, Annora's backpack and laptop bag and just left the room without a word. They had more important thing to do, like some serious research.

"The communications department needs my help with some of their equipment," Fuery muttered as he slowly backed out of the room, and then took off running down the halls.

This left Ethan, Mustang, and Hawkeye all standing in the now-empty office, with the Flame Colonel gaping wordlessly at the vacant room before him while Ethan struggled vainly to suppress a smirk.

"H-how?" he stammered as he turned around to look at Hawkeye before his expression twisted into one of extreme outrage. "How did I get such a pathetic staff?!"

Mustang froze at the sudden sound of the First Lieutenant removing the safety to her handgun, and inwardly cursed fate as the weapon was removed from its holster.

"Why don't **you** watch Private Thomas tonight sir, since you seem to be free for the evening?" the blonde woman suggested as she arched an eyebrow. Ethan pulled a face as he made a loud retching noise, only to immediately stop when he caught sight of the supremely dirty look that the Colonel was currently giving him.

"But I have a-" the dark-haired man began as he turned around to face his sole female subordinate, only to fall silent as he wilted visible under the intense glare that she suddenly leveled at him. "I'll do it."

"Good. Good night, sir."

And with that single statement the formidable woman spun about sharply on her heel and left the room, taking her much-dreaded handgun with her. Ethan's eyebrows rose up into his hairline before he cast a glance over at Mustang and let out a low whistle.

"Wow, now that's what I call whipped," he joked, and immediately lost the use of his voice as a murderous aura surrounded his commanding officer, and the older man's fingers started to twitch ominously.

"Not one word, Thomas."

"You're no fun."

"I believe that was more than one word."

Ethan swallowed loudly at the obvious threat in the Flame Alchemist's voice before he decided that it was probably a good idea to keep his mouth shut. He shifted nervously from foot to foot before he went and stood over by the door, snatching up his military-issued overcoat and rucksack from his desk while waiting for Mustang to get ready to leave the quiet office for the night.

--

"Damn that Colonel Bastard!" Ed snarled darkly as he stalked through the slushy street in the rapidly darkening twilight, Al trailing along behind him. "Who the hell does he think he is, ordering us to just drop everything to do research for Annora's brother?!"

The younger Elric decided that it was probably best not to say anything and just let his brother vent, knowing that it was his way of trying not to go ballistic over what had taken place only a few hours earlier. Ed continued to rant for a few more minutes, going into very vivid and graphic detail about what he'd like to do to his superior, before he finally let out a weary sigh and fell silent, aiming a violent kick at the random lumps of snow that occasionally entered his path.

"Hey Al, do you think what Ethan said was true?" the teenage alchemist finally asked after a few minutes of awkward silence, glancing over his shoulder at his younger brother. "About them being from some other world I mean."

"I don't know Brother," the possessed suit of armor admitted reluctantly as he looked down at the small black and white collie pup that he still held in his hands. "Annora kept telling us that she was from some other place the entire time she was with us, so maybe she was telling the truth."

"But that's what I mean!" Ed exploded as he spun around to face Alphonse, frustration evident in his voice. "This whole thing is all so unscientific, but looking at it as a bunch of… of mystical events is the only way that it even makes any sense!!"

"Then maybe that means that there's something else out there… something more," the fifteen-year old offered hesitantly as he looked over at his brother with wide red eyes. The golden-eyed teen gave a disbelieving snort at this as he returned his attention to the slushy ground, aiming a kick a stray chunk of ice that lay in his path.

Al just shook his head and let out a weary sigh before Twilight suddenly sat up in his arms and let out a sharp 'yip', startling the two brothers. Before either of them could say anything, the young dog leapt out of Al's arms and took off running down a nearby alley, yapping excitedly all the way.

"Oi, get back here you mangy mutt!" Ed shouted as he ran after the animal, ignoring the unfamiliar feeling of Annora's backpack bouncing around on his shoulders as he ran, knowing that his friend would kill him if anything happened to her precious pet. Al hesitated for only a second before he followed his brother in chasing the dog, not noticing that this was the very same alley that he and Ed had first met Annora in three months ago.

--

Annora pulled a face as she looked askance at what was supposed to be her lunch, her nose wrinkling slightly at the smell that wafted upwards towards her nostrils.

"Ewww…" she muttered as she gripped her styrofoam tray tightly and moved away from the lunch counter so the person behind her could order their food. This was **supposed** to be beef sauce over egg noodles, but it looked and smelled like something that even the Creature from the Black Lagoon wouldn't touch with a stick. The teenager let out a sigh as she meandered over to the salad bar and snagged some fresh onions that she could add to her 'lunch' to disguise the taste, as well as an orange sorbet cup, before she started looking around the cafeteria for a place to sit.

The sixteen-year old meandered about the cafeteria for a few minutes, searching avidly for a free seat, before she let out a long sigh of defeat and headed reluctantly out onto the outside patio area, where those unlucky enough to not find a seat inside the heated cafeteria had to go and eat. Annora shivered slightly as she stepped outside and was immediately hit with a frigid blast of air before she trudged over to an empty table and plopped down in one of the vacant seats. Not even a minute later she was joined by Katie, who flopped down besides her with a tray of slop of her own in hand, as well as a snack-size bag of ranch Doritos.

"Is it just me, or is this stuff more disgusting than usual?" the dark-haired girl asked as she stole a glance over at Annora's food and pulled a face, wrinkling her nose slightly. The taller teen arched an eyebrow as she stole a glance at her friend out of the corner of her eye before she picked up her plastic fork and prodded experimentally at her 'mystery meat' sauce. The supposedly warm sauce jiggled in response, causing Annora to draw back with a frown.

"It's more disgusting than usual," she stated coolly as she reached forward and poked at her food again, and was rewarded with it twitching. Katie gave a resigned shrug as she opened up her bag of chips, and watched as Annora tried to jab her fork into the wiggling mass, only to have its plastic tines bounce off of the surface.

"Now this is just flat out disgusting. I think my appetite just filed for bankruptcy," she said with a growl as she indicated at the seemingly innocent meat cream sauce and egg noodles with green beans on her tray. "My food's moving, and I know that it's not supposed to be doing that. I usually like my food **dead**."

"Aw c'mon, it can't be that bad," Katie said soothingly, only to have her attempts at negotiating go straight down the tubes when one of the kids sitting near them suddenly gagged loudly. Immediately the two girls both looked over in his direction as the senior scowled down at the offending food before he stood up and threw the tray into the trash can, where it bounced off of the garbage at the top and landed on the pavement with a wet 'slap'. Annora stared at the scene for a few seconds before she jabbed a finger accusingly over in the direction of the garbage can.

"Katie, look at that. Even the **trash can** won't eat that crap," she retorted as she arched an eyebrow challengingly. "What exactly does that tell you?"

"That the trash can is bulimic?" the bespectacled girl offered innocently, and was rewarded with her friend letting out a low groan of annoyance as she slapped her face with her hand, muttering something under her breath about 'patience is a virtue'. Once the sixteen-year old felt that she could speak without trying to hit her friend, Annora removed her hand from her face.

"No, it means that the food here is evil," she stated patiently, and was rewarded with a slight 'oh' of understanding from Katie before she decided to try her luck with the 'suicide concoction' so she wouldn't be starving until the end of school. "Here endeth the lesson."

Just as she was about to take a forkful of the questionable slop and put it in her mouth, a familiar voice from behind her caused her to freeze in her seat, brown eyes widening in horror.

"Well now, isn't **this** a surprise," the person behind her sneered before a smug undertone crept into his voice. "I told you that you couldn't hide from me, bitch."

Annora felt the plastic fork fall from her numb fingers and land with a seemingly loud clatter on her tray as she slowly turned around, silently praying that the speaker wasn't who she thought it was. Any and all hope that she was mistaken immediately shattered as she found herself looking into a pair of familiar violet eyes, and a chill ran down her spine as the homunculus smirked at her, crossing his arms over his chest as his two associates watched his actions from a few feet away.

It was Envy. He looked a little different, a little more real, but it was still Envy… and he had brought Lust and Gluttony along for the ride.

Annora swallowed nervously as she eyed the three homunculi before her, a cold chill creeping into the pit of her stomach as realization hit her.

She was so screwed.

--

Well now, sorry for the long wait everyone, but school started up again for me, coupled with a nasty case of writer's block. And I made the chapter a little longer to apologize for the lateness.

The sonnet that Annora writes for her English class is actually one that I wrote for my own Brit Lit class back in my senior year of high school, back when I was only starting with this story. The poem is also called 'What One May Never See' and I kind of based it off of the main idea of this fic, which is that you can walk by something so many times without even noticing it, but once your attention is called to it you wonder how the hell you missed something so obvious.

Okay, well I'm going to skip out on review responses for this time since I'm too damn tired and it's late. I hope that you don't want to lynch me now for the wait, and I'll see you guys next chapter.

Sayonara

Wandering Hitokiri


	25. Chapter 24: Falling into Place

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." – William Shakespeare, _Hamlet_

**Chapter Twenty-Four:**

**Falling into Place **

"Oh shit."

Annora stared at Envy for several seconds, trying not to let the homunculus see just how scared she was, before Katie noticed their visitors. The anime-obsessed girl looked over at the homunculus with wide eyes before she let out an ear-splitting squeal and promptly launched herself at the green-haired Sin, wrapping her arms around him and encasing him in a rib-crushing hug.

"ENVY-KUN!!" she squealed excitedly, glomping the bewildered Sin with all of her strength, immediately ratcheting the severity of the situation down from flat-out terrifying to faintly amusing and seriously unnerving. It took a few seconds for Envy's brain to catch up with what was happening, and his already volatile temper snapped, although this was also encouraged by Lust's poorly repressed snickering at the scene.

"What the- GET THE HELL OFF ME!!!" the shape-shifter snarled as he attempted to pry the ecstatic teenage girl from her position with her arms wrapped tightly around his torso, and failed miserably.

"Uhh… Katie?" Annora said hesitantly as she watched her friend with obvious unease. "I think you might want to let go."

As funny as it was to see Envy freaked out like this, she still didn't think that it was exactly the smartest thing in the world for her friend to be clinging to a homicidal, mentally unstable artificial human.

"No!" Katie protested as she withstood Envy trying to haul her off by the back of her jacket. Annora let out an annoyed groan as she leveled a dirty look in the shorter girl's direction, irritation obvious in her voice as she spoke forcefully.

"Katie, let go of the homosexual palm tree, **now**," she growled warningly.

"NO!"

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, YOU STUPID HUMAN!!!"

Annora rolled her eyes upwards before she darted forward and trapped her obsessed friend in a headlock, cutting off Katie's supply of oxygen and forcing her to release her 'bishie'… whatever the hell that was. The sixteen-year old let out a huff of irritation as she pulled the other girl a respectable distance away from the upset homunculus, trying to mask her fear with annoyance and scorn. She knew that if she lost her head now, both she and Katie would stand a snowball's chance in Hell of getting out of this little fiasco alive.

"I know I've probably already asked this before, but are you fucking insane?!" the brown-eyed teen hissed angrily as she held her friend back from jumping the now-thoroughly pissed off homunculus again. "You don't just go running up and hugging people that you don't know like that!"

"Sheesh Annora, chill out," Katie said as she wiggled out of the other girl's grip, shooting her an odd look. "What's up with you? Just because some people from the anime club decide to dress up in costume doesn't mean that you need to freak out like that. It's not like they're the real thing."

Annora barely managed to keep herself from shouting a stream of insults at her friend as she stared at the bespectacled teen incredulously, completely blown away by what her friend had just said. There was no way in hell that anyone **but** the real Envy would have greeted her like that, especially the 'I told you that you couldn't hide from me' bit.

"The anime club, right," she muttered as she gave a forced chuckle, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the three homunculi, trying to come up with a way to get out of the hole she had just dug for herself. "I forgot about that."

Envy cocked an eyebrow at her sudden change in attitude before he, Lust, and Gluttony found themselves under a barrage of questions from Katie as she viewed their outfits excitedly.

"Wow, these have to be the best cosplays I've ever seen!" she enthused as she looked up at the green-haired Sin with absolute adoration in her eyes. "I mean, you guys even got the hair to look right! And everything looks so natural! How did you do it?!"

An evil smirk slowly crossed the homunculi's face as he regarded the hyper teen thoughtfully, and he allowed a sliver of his usual ego to show through.

"It's just because I'm that good," he boasted, crossing his arms over his chest before he returned his attention to Annora, who was watching him warily with an indescribable look on her face, her free hand gripping the strap of her messenger bag so tight that her knuckles turned white. "However, I think I need to talk to you friend over there."

"Crap," Annora muttered as she took a precautionary step back. Envy smirked at the teen as he leaned forward, a mocking grin planted firmly on his face.

"What, surprised to see me?"

"No, I'm just not looking at you until you're wearing something that I'll actually classify as clothing."

"Ouch. I think you've hurt my feelings."

"Wow, you actually think?" the teen asked sarcastically as she flashed a strained grin. "And here I thought that you were totally brainless, kind of like one of those stupid bimbos on the cheer squad. All body and no brains."

"Are you insinuating something?" Envy growled dangerously, not liking being compared to an airheaded girl. Annora merely gave him a triumphant smirk as she slowly backed up, an odd look in her eyes.

"Only if you think I am," she replied cryptically. "Unless of course I'm lying. Then you only **think** that I'm insinuating something, which means that I wasn't. Or I could be telling the truth, because you won't believe me even if I tell it to you."

"Huh?" the homunculus said, clearly confused as he looked at the girl quizzically. Behind him, Lust let out an annoyed sigh as she fixed the older Sin with an exasperated look.

"Envy, she's playing word games with you," the buxom woman stated shortly. "She's trying to confuse you."

"No, really? You think?" Annora growled as she slowly inched closer to Katie, smirking inwardly as an ideal escape plan dawned on her. "And here I thought I was just making small talk."

The two homunculi frowned at the girl's sarcastic statement before Envy opened his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by Gluttony.

"I'm hungry," the obese Sin said suddenly. Katie looked over at the other homunculus and frowned, an odd look crossing her face as she scrutinized the blank-faced creature closely.

"What in the hey-?" she began, only to have Annora suddenly dart forward, placing herself in between her friend and the homunculi. A knowing smirk flashed across the other teen's face as she suddenly slammed her fist down on the ends of their lunch trays, sending the toxic cuisine flying at Envy, Lust, and Gluttony.

"Eat this then, assholes!" she shouted as the mystery meat surprise sauce hit Envy full in the face, and landed with a loud 'splat' on Lust's chest. Gluttony just leaned back and opened his mouth wide, catching his portion of the school food attacking them.

Annora didn't wait around long enough to take in the damage that she'd caused as she grabbed Katie forcefully by the elbow before she proceeded to drag her friend back towards the doors leading to the inside cafeteria, slamming the thick metal doors shut behind them as they ran.

"Annora, what the-?" Katie tried to ask, only to have the taller girl cut her off.

"Don't talk, just run!" she snapped, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that they weren't being followed. Thinking quickly, the sixteen-year old pulled the other girl with her out into main part of the cafeteria, effectively hiding themselves in the crowd, before heading towards the double doors that led out into the hallway.

"But-"

"Katie, just listen to me for once!"

The odd-eyed teen stared at her friend in bewilderment, wondering just what had happened to make Annora this tense. Had she missed something?

"Annora, why are you freaking out about a couple of the kids from anime club dressing up?" Katie asked as she let the other girl pull her along. "It's not like they're the real thing, and besides-"

"Katie, I hate to break it to you, but those **were** the real things back there," Annora shot back tersely. "I know this because before I left Amestris, Envy threatened to come here and kill everyone I've ever cared about. His exact words to me were 'You can't hide from me, bitch'. How the hell do you expect me to not react to them just waltzing right up to us?!"

"Well I think you're overreacting."

"I am **not** overreacting!" the sixteen-year old snarled as they reached the doors leading out into the halls, and she immediately lashed out with her right foot, unceremoniously kicking the twin doors open. "You're the one who's not reacting enough!!"

Katie tried to pull herself free from the other teen's iron grip as she was dragged through the doorway before Annora kicked the doors shut and jabbed a finger meaningfully at the small windows set into the entrance.

"Watch the other doors through that and then tell me that I'm overreacting," she growled, her usually warm brown eyes narrowed dangerously from a combination of fear and anger. Hesitantly, Katie did as she was told, and was shocked to see the metal doors that they had just gone through at the other side of the cafeteria get sliced into pieces before they crumbled, revealing Lust standing there with her claws extended and a smug smirk on her face. Upon seeing the oddly-dressed woman, along with the two males standing behind her, panic set in among the students in the lunchroom, and the majority all bolted for the closest exits.

"Time to go," Annora said as she dragged her friend off down the hall only seconds before the flood of students entered the halls, followed by the loud shrilling sound of someone setting off the fire alarm.

"Where are we going?"

"Anywhere but here."

A loud shout of 'There she is!' behind them gave the brunette cause to glance behind them, and was treated to the sight of Envy forcing his way through the crowd of students to get to the two girls. Annora swore foully underneath her breath before she abandoned all pretenses of looking like the rest of the panicked teenagers in the hallway and broke into a run, dragging Katie behind her.

The moment that they reached the intersecting corridor, Annora turned right while the majority of their classmates went left, heading out in the direction of the main parking lot.

"What are you doing?!" Katie hissed urgently before she chanced a glance behind her to make sure that Envy hadn't seen them yet. "Everyone else is going that way!"

"Yeah, well everyone else doesn't have a trio of murderous homunculi on their asses," Annora ground out before a morbid smirk crossed her face. "Besides, the chemistry lab is this way."

"Uh oh… why do I have a really bad feeling about this?"

"That's because you know me way too well."

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Ed cursed colorfully as he tore after Twilight, trying his hardest to ignore the unwanted thoughts springing up in the back of his mind about how he should just let the canine go on its way and not bother with catching up, how the small animal was nothing more than yet another painful reminder of Annora's absence. However, all thoughts of just letting the dog go flew right out of his head at light speed when the puppy finally bolted out of the alleyway, and right into a street.

"Shit!" Ed snarled as he put on an extra burst of speed and snatched up the dog just as car slammed on its brakes with a loud squeal, the horn coming into play as the driver expressed their fury at the teenager having burst out into the busy street from out of nowhere. Startled by the loud sound, the teenage alchemist let out a loud curse before his feet slipped out from underneath him on a patch of ice, and he landed unceremoniously on his ass.

"Brother!" Al shouted out as he emerged from the alley, and saw his older sibling sitting in the middle of the road while staring wide-eyed at the front bumper of a strange black and white car with an odd set of blue and red lights up on the roof. "Brother, are you okay?!"

"I'm not dead if that's what you're asking," Ed answered shakily as he got to his feet, eyeing the strange car uneasily as he cradled Twilight protectively in his arms. If he had been just a few seconds later, the dog would have been road kill.

"Hey, just what the hell do you kids think you're doing?!" the man who had been driving the car demanded as he opened the driver side door and stepped out onto the snowy street, pushing up the brim of his tan cowboy hat as he glared at the two boys. "You could've been killed pulling a stunt like that, kid!"

"Look here pops, if I hadn't my friend's dog would've gotten killed, and then she'd have my ass for letting it happen!" the Fullmetal Alchemist snapped back as he glared daggers at the strangely dressed man. The older man was wearing khaki slacks, sturdy dark shoes, and a dark brown jacket with some sort of badge on the front. The man frowned slightly as he peered closer at the teenager, and arched an eyebrow as a thought suddenly struck him.

"Kid, how old are you?" he asked, and Ed turned red at the 'kid' comment as he leveled a death glare at him.

"I'm sixteen," he growled darkly, and Al let out a groan as he clapped a hand to his face in frustration.

"Brother, be nice," he scolded before he turned around to look at the man that had almost hit the older Elric, and bowed slightly in apology. "I'm sorry for how rude my brother's being right now. We've kind of had a bad day."

"I know the feeling," the man muttered as he let out a sigh before he shook his head. "And speaking of bad days, aren't you two supposed to be in school right now?"

"Huh?" was Ed's oh-so-intelligent reply to this question, incredulity flashing through his golden eyes as he gaped at the man.

"I'm one of the police officers who keep an eye out around town for kids like you thinking it's a cool idea to skip school," the man explained as he rolled his dark eyes upwards. "I know that every school from here in Flagstaff to all the way in Prescott have been closed down for snow days for the past week, but that doesn't mean that you can ditch just 'cause you don't feel like going back to school after a week's vacation. Although, I think I can cut you two a break because you said that your friend's dog escaped, and I have the fact that I almost hit you to prove it."

A frown crossed the alchemist's face as he stared at the police officer intently, before realization hit him like a brick.

"Flagstaff?" he gasped sharply before he and Alphonse exchanged shocked looks. The police officer, Officer Jackson, ignored their surprise as he removed his hat and ran a hand through his brown hair.

"Look you two, why don't you hop in back and I'll give you a lift to school," he offered before he cast a sideways glance over at Al. "Uh… you're probably going to want to take your costume off first though, because I don't think you'll be able to fit in there otherwise."

"He'll fit," Ed said suddenly before inspiration struck him, and he started doing what Annora would have dubbed as 'bullshitting'. "Y'see, we're doing this reenactment for our class, and Al forgot his costume, so we had to go home to get it, and that's when our friend's dog escaped, so we had to go after her before something happened to her. Um, I don't suppose you could drop us off at…" the alchemist paused for a second to think before he remembered the name of the school that Annora had told them that she had gone to. "Redford High School?"

"Sure, not a problem," Officer Jackson responded as he let out a wry chuckle before heading back into his car. "Just hop in the back, and we'll get going. But hey, are you absolutely sure that your brother can fit inside while wearing that thing?"

"We'll find out, won't we?" Ed asked rhetorically as he looked back at the younger Elric and flashed him a reassuring smile, letting Al know that he knew what he was doing. "It took forever to get him all set up in that thing, so we really don't want to take it off unless we absolutely have to."

"Makes sense to me."

And with that parting comment the older man got into his squad car and fastened his seatbelt, waiting for the two boys to follow him. Ed hesitated for a second before he followed after the police officer, only to have Al suddenly grab a hold of his shoulder.

"Brother, what are you doing?!" the fifteen-year old hissed urgently, worry evident in his eyes.

"Finding Annora," the teenage alchemist shot back. "Somehow I don't think that it's just a coincidence that we suddenly ended up in this town that Annora kept insisting she was from. Hell, that police officer just confirmed that even her **school** exists. You're the one who's always been asking about whether or not Annora may have been telling the truth, right? Well here's our chance to find out if she was telling us the truth, or if she was just some deranged, smart-ass teenage girl."

Alphonse froze for a second before he nodded in agreement, and Ed flashed his younger brother a cocky grin before he headed towards the police car, not realizing that he still had Annora's backpack on his back while cradling Twilight protectively in his arms. To any passing observers, he looked exactly like any run of the mill teenage boy that was supposed to be in school.

"Don't worry about it, Al," he encouraged over his shoulder. "We'll be fine."

"I sure hope so," the possessed suit of armor muttered as he shook his head and sighed, following the older Elric into the back seat of the cruiser, which was a bit of a tight squeeze, but he managed to get in with only the minimal amount of squishing Ed. "I really hope that you know what you're doing, brother."

"Yeah, so do I," Ed managed to gasp weakly as he scooted slightly away from his sibling so he wouldn't get squashed any more than he already was. "Now let's go and see if we can find Annora. Hopefully she hasn't gone and gotten herself into trouble again."

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"We are so seriously screwed," Katie chattered as Annora quietly shut the classroom door behind them, eyeing the chemistry classroom that they were currently in doubtfully. "I know that Envy-kun might spare us if we apologize or something, but if Lust and Gluttony are with him, then he'll probably be forced to act like a jerk."

The brunette slowly turned around and stared at her friend for several long moments, the look on her face indicating that she thought the other girl had lost her mind.

"Katie, just keep quiet, and worry about your stupid obsession later," she finally gritted out, trying not to lose it and snap at the anime-obsessed girl. "We need to get out of this alive first."

Annora ignored Katie's sputtered protests as she looked around the room anxiously, and a slow, almost homicidal smirk, crossed her face as her eyes landed on what looked like a large fish tank full of water, with two jumper cables attached to metal rods extending down into the water. It was one of those things that she had seen in a science video once, where you ran an electrical current through the water, and as a result it produced hydrogen. She couldn't remember what it was called, but she had an idea about how to deal with the homunculi now.

"Jackpot," the sixteen-year old whispered as she went over to the device and started examining it. "Well, it looks like I'm gonna have to follow Ethan's philosophy on fighting now."

"And what's that?" Katie asked suddenly as she came up behind her friend, and winced slightly when the taller girl suddenly let out an unnerving snicker before she responded.

"When all else fails, blow shit up."

"WHAT?!" the bespectacled teen yelped, only to have Annora whirl around and clamp a hand down over her mouth before anything else could come out.

"You idiot! Are you **insane**?!!" she hissed angrily. "They'll hear us!"

"But-"

"Shh!" Annora whispered urgently as she dragged her friend away from the door just as someone walked by, and a familiar spiky-haired shadow appeared on the frosted windowpane set into the door before it moved on, passing them by for the moment. The sixteen-year old stared at the door, her brown eyes wide with barely repressed terror as she tried to encourage her suddenly numbed mind to work.

The teenager hissed out a soft curse as she released Katie, and the gravity of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. The homunculi were here in **her** world. The place where she had grown up in, and where nothing weird had ever happened. If she didn't do something, and soon, they were probably going to cause mass chaos and havoc once they figured out that they were in a different world, much less a plane of reality.

"Shit on a stick," Annora grumbled as she returned her attention to the machine, wondering how she could get it to produce more hydrogen than what was available in the tank. After musing over the problem for a few seconds, she noticed the spray nozzle next to the sink, and a roll of duct tape sitting on the counter not too far away from it. The girl grinned as inspiration struck her, and she turned on the machine before removing the glass container that the hydrogen was supposed to go into, making it so that the gas would seep into the room instead.

"Umm, Annora… what are you doing?" Katie asked hesitantly as she watched the taller girl rip off a piece of duct tape and wrap it around the spray nozzle, insuring that it was permanently on, before she stuck it into the tank and turned the water on. Already a funny smell was starting to fill the classroom, and Annora noticed that she was having a little bit of difficulty breathing.

"Just a bit of a diversion," the sixteen-year old answered offhandedly before she grabbed her friend by the arm and hauled her over to the supply cabinet up by the door. Without even bothering to explain anything, Annora opened up one of the wooden doors and shoved aside a few small boxes that were on the lower level.

"Get in there, stay hidden and don't make a sound until I say so, got it?" she asked seriously as she helped Katie get situated in the somewhat cramped space. There was enough room to fit two people of their size, but it was going to be a tight squeeze once Annora managed to force herself in the cupboard as well.

Once she had extracted a promise from Katie to do exactly what she said, the teen dashed over to the counter opposite from the supply closet and snatched up an alcohol burner and butane lighter from what looked like the setup for some experiment. Unfortunately for her, when she was drawing her arm back with the two precious objects clutched tightly in her hand, the bulky leather sleeve of her letterman's jacket snagged on the lip of a large glass beaker and sent it tumbling onto the tiled floor. The beaker fell to the floor with a tremendous crash that seemed to Annora loud enough to wake the dead, shattering into dozens of razor-sharp fragments.

"Shit," Annora muttered before she bolted over towards the cabinet, clutching her prizes close to her chest, before she scrambled inside next to Katie and shut the door firmly behind her.

"Annora, what are you doing?" Katie began, only to have her friend hold up a hand to silence her in the dim gloom of the supply cabinet.

"Katie, just keep quiet and watch me," she whispered hoarsely as she leaned forward and put her eye to the crack between the two doors. There was a heavy silence for a few brief moments before the sound of someone running up to the classroom door reached their ears, and Annora automatically tensed up as the door opened, and Envy walked in, followed closely by Lust and Gluttony.

"Envy, there's nothing here," the female homunculus stated tersely as she quickly scanned the room, and found nothing that caught her interest. The green-haired Sin scowled as he shot Lust a dirty look over his shoulder before he turned around and crouched in front of the shattered beaker that Annora had accidentally knocked over.

"I'm pretty sure that I heard something break around here, and this is the only room with anything broken in it," he retorted scathingly. "That bitch and her stupid little friend have to be around here somewhere, I'm sure of it."

Lust heaved an exasperated sigh before she fixed the older homunculus with an intense stare. "And just what is it with your obsession of finding this girl? Ever since we passed through the Gate into this other world, that's been all you've talked about."

"Well first of all, she travels with the Fullmetal Pipsqueak, and his tin can of a brother!" Envy spat, his amethyst eyes narrowed hatefully as he stalked towards the back of the room, having spotted the door that lead into the classroom next door. "And secondly, she's gotten away with mocking me for the last time. No one **ever** talks to me that way and gets away with it!"

"And you're positive that this obsession of yours isn't motivated by something other than hatred?"

Annora twitched slightly at the implications of this statement, and fought back the urge to make a loud retching noise, knowing that her and Katie's lives depended on their ability to remain silent. The androgynous Sin had no such restrictions as he froze in his tracks before he spun around to face Lust, his face twisted into a perverse mask of loathing.

"Just what the **fuck** do you mean by that?!" he all but shrieked in rage, murder shining in his slitted pupils as he glared at the sole female in the group. Lust didn't even look the least bit phased as she calmly examined her nails, seemingly checking underneath them for dirt or other lodged bits of debris.

"What I mean is that you're acting more like an obsessed stalker than someone hell-bent on revenge," the buxom woman stated bluntly without even looking up at Envy. "For all we know, this world could have hundreds of items that could benefit the Master, and yet you're more focused on killing some puny speck of a human girl just because she took a few blows at your ego."

Envy turned a rather interesting shade of puce as he glared daggers at Lust, looking as though he would like nothing more than to wring her neck.

"Shut up, just shut up!" he spat furiously. "I told you that I'm going to kill that little bitch, and that's all there is to it!!"

Lust arched a delicate eyebrow sharply as she opened her mouth to reply, only to be interrupted by Gluttony.

"It smells funny in here," the tubby homunculus whined as he sniffed at the air. Envy and Lust both froze at this statement before they too started sniffing at the air. It was then that Annora decided that it was probably prudent to get the hell out of there, and kicked the cabinet door open with a resounding 'crash' before she grabbed Katie's hand and proceeded to haul ass out of the chemistry lab.

"What the-?!" Envy began, too stunned by the girls sudden appearance to make sense of what had just happened. Annora didn't give him a chance to finish his thoughts as she paused in the doorway with the alcohol burner in one hand, and the butane lighter in the other.

"Go to hell!" she snarled as she lit the wick to the alcohol burner before she lobbed it directly at the trio of homunculi, whirling around and slamming the door shut behind her.

There was dead silence in the lab for a few seconds as she and Katie both pressed themselves up against the wall on either side of the door, only to be broken by the loud crash of the alcohol burner smashing on the floor in the room.

"Where's the 'kaboom'? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering 'kaboom'!" Katie said suddenly as she looked over at her friend, her tone indicating that she was joking. Annora opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by an ominous-sounding 'fwoom' from behind them before the science lab exploded. The classroom door blew off its hinges as a large cloud of flames burst from the lab, and and sent it flying into the wall across the hall, where it crumpled before falling to the ground with a loud clatter.

Both teens gaped at the sight as the flames withdrew back into the classroom, having lost their fuel source, before they looked back at each other. Katie was doing a decent impression of a goldfish as she gaped at Annora, who looked sheepish as she shrugged hesitantly.

"There it is."

It was right about then that the sprinklers went off in the room, soaking the interior and dousing any flames that may have been inside.

"You just blew up the chemistry lab!" Katie accused, finally recovering the use of her voice as she stared incredulously at her friend. Annora gave a nervous laugh before she looked into the charred remains of the science lab, wrinkling her nose slightly when an odd and disturbing odor reached her nose. She really hoped that it wasn't the smell of burnt flesh…

"Yeah, and your point would be…?" she asked offhandedly as she scanned the burnt wreckage for any sign of Envy and his cohorts. There was no way in hell that she was going to set foot in that room until she was absolutely certain that the three homunculi were dead.

"Well, I always thought that you'd have to actually **take** chemistry before you blew something up," the dark-haired girl muttered. Annora gave a derisive snort at this before she glanced over at the shorter girl out of the corner of her eye.

"Katie, I **am** in chemistry," she stated dryly as she rolled her eyes upwards as though praying for divine guidance. "Do us both a favor, and don't tell my teacher, **ever**. She'll never let me near a Bunsen burner again if she knew that I used one like a Molotov cocktail."

"And just how much is the omission of this information worth?"

"Don't even go there, Kate. I've got a hell of a lot more blackmail material on you than you do on me."

Katie frowned as she looked back over at the classroom, and an odd look crossed her face as she moved to stand over next to Annora.

"I know we should probably run, but my morbid curiosity prevents such…" the bespectacled girl mumbled. The other teen shot her a sardonic look before she shook her head and sighed.

"You're impossible," Annora muttered as she reached up and ran a hand through her bangs. However, she froze in mid-motion when she caught sight of some movement in the room out of the corner of her eye. The teenager silently started praying fervently that she was either hallucinating, or imagining things, before she looked over at the spot where she had last seen the three homunculi. A shocked gasp tore from her throat as she jerked backwards suddenly, watching with wide eyes in horror as the charred remains of Envy, Lust, and Gluttony slowly started to re-form right before her eyes.

"Oh shit," she whispered hoarsely as she stared at the slowly-growing lumps. Katie immediately looked over at what she was staring at, and let out a loud yelp as she too drew back.

"Okay, curiosity satisfied! Time to go!" she insisted frantically. Annora needed no further urging as she grabbed her friend by the front of her jacket and bolted down the hall, heading for the staircase leading up to the second story like the hounds of hell were baying at her heels.

**Now** was the time for them to start panicking and find an adult.

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"Well here you go," Officer Jackson said as he pulled up in front of Redford High before he twisted around in his seat to look at the two boys. "Next time, try not to run out in front of moving cars like that, okay kid? The next person might not have as good a set of brakes as I do."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the advice," Ed muttered as he got out of the car, soon followed by Alphonse as the younger Elric squirmed out of the small confines of the cop car, before he dropped his voice down to a low whisper. "Wiseass."

"Brother!" Al said reprovingly as he shot his older sibling a dirty look. Ed shrugged and muttered something under his breath as he turned away from the possessed suit of armor and started towards the front doors to the school. Al rolled his eyes upwards as he let out a sigh and followed the alchemist, before he let out a poorly repressed snicker when he noticed that Ed was still holding Twilight close to his chest. For someone who claimed not to like pets of any kind, he sure was being awfully protective of the young collie.

Officer Jackson had just pulled away when the two boys approached the front entrance to the school, only to be startled out of their wits when a loud alarm suddenly went off.

"What the hell?!" Ed snarled as he looked around them, and almost got run over by two teachers hustling a group of teenagers out of the front door, casting wary glances over their shoulders as they did so. The Fullmetal Alchemist opened his mouth to ask just what exactly was going on, when the loudspeaker crackled to life behind the two boys, startling both of them.

"_ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS. PLEASE PROCEED TO EITHER THE CLOSEST EXIT, OR CLASSROOM. THIS IS A LOCKDOWN. REPEAT; THIS IS A LOCKDOWN, NOT A DRILL. ALL TEACHERS, LOCK YOUR DOORS AND KEEP YOUR STUDENTS AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS OR DOORS. WE HAVE INTRUDERS ON CAMPUS, AND THEY ARE ARMED._"

The blood drained out of Ed's face as he looked over at Alphonse, who also looked nervous, his red eyes wide.

"You don't think…?" the older Elric began hesitantly as he stared at his brother. Al shook his head slightly as he stared at the entrance of the front office.

"It's not possible… at least I don't think so."

That was when the gunshots coming from the other side of the school started.

Both boys exchanged startled looks before they bolted off in the direction of the noise, completely ignoring the teacher yelling at them to come back and evacuate with the rest of the students.

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"Move, move, move, move, move, move, **move**!" Annora insisted frantically as she practically dragged Katie along behind her, the two of them giving new meaning to the phrase 'hauling ass' as they bolted down the abandoned corridors of the second story of their high school. The fire alarm had just been shut off, so the sixteen-year old assumed that the teachers had realized that it wasn't to alert the faculty about a fire.

Now, if the cops would just show up and give the three deranged homunculi currently after them a nice serving of hot lead, then everything would be just perfect.

Annora didn't even pause when they approached the door leading to the outside balcony that wrapped around two of the school walls, giving access to the outside classrooms positioned on the side of the building. Instead, she just kicked them open before they ran out into the frigid afternoon air, not caring about the loud 'boom' created by the heavy metal doors hitting the brick walls that shattered the deadly silence behind them. The homunculi already knew where they were anyways, so there was pretty much no use in trying to hide their position.

Growling a series of highly inappropriate curses under her breath, the teenager pulled her friend along behind her as they dashed towards the corner up ahead of them, silently praying that they would make it to the outside stairwell, and hopefully ditch their pursuers for a few precious moments. If they could pull it off, then they might stand a chance of reaching the other students being evacuated out into the parking lot, and vanish into the crowd.

Well, that was Annora's plan at least. The only reason she and Katie hadn't split up was because of the small fact that the dark-haired girl was absolutely convinced that she could talk 'Envy-kun' around and persuade the androgynous homunculus to spare them.

Hah, like that was ever going to happen. There wasn't a doubt in Annora's mind that Envy would kill her the second he got a chance, just to pay her back for all of the humiliation that she had put him through. And he'd probably kill Katie too just to spite her. Why Katie was completely incapable of seeing this, no matter **how** many times she explained this to her friend, was completely beyond the sixteen-year old.

Obsession really does know no bounds.

Annora shook her head and growled out an annoyed curse as they whipped around the corner, only to collide headlong with one of the school security guards. The two girls fell together into a tangled heap, with the older man stumbling backwards from the brunette knocking him off balance.

"Shit," Annora groaned as she slowly disentangled herself from Katie, and looked up at the blonde-haired man watching them with a bit of surprise. "Oh… hey Officer Kane. I think we've got a problem."

"I noticed," the older man responded dryly as he reached down and helped the two girls to their feet, his gray eyes widening slightly when he noticed the sudden look of fear on the taller girl's face. "Annora, what's wrong?"

"Besides three homicidal nutjobs out after us?" she asked as she scrambled to her feet, dragging Katie up after her, a slightly high-pitched note of panic in her voice. "Other than that, everything's just perfect."

Officer Kane immediately became the very picture of alertness as he promptly seized both girls by their arms and shoved them behind him, assuming a defensive stance as he pulled out his service pistol. He was one of the few security guards on campus that were actually cops, and thus authorized to carry a gun on school grounds.

"You two stay behind me, and be ready to run," he ordered sharply as he put his finger up to the safety, ready to release it at a moment's notice. It was a good thing that he did, seeing as Lust and Gluttony rounded the corner almost right after that, although the two homunculi came to a stop almost immediately as the campus cop leveled his gun at the two Sins and removed the safety.

"Alright you two, hands up where I can see them, now!" Kane barked out as he placed his finger on the trigger and glared at the homunculi. "Don't even think about moving. Yeah, I'm talking to you, lady."

Lust arched a delicate eyebrow as she sent the campus cop a dismissive glance, before a slow smile crossed her face as she brought her hand up and apparently examined her fingernails with a bored expression.

"I hate rude men," she stated simply as she looked up at Officer Kane. Annora winced slightly when she caught the barely audible sound of the older man grinding his teeth in an attempt to retain a firm grip on his temper.

"Lady, I said hands up in the air, **now**."

"If you say so," Lust said with a slight smirk, and with that statement brought her hand up and extended her nails so that one of the tips pressed lightly against the police officer's neck.

"Holy mother of…" the man began, the blood draining from his face slightly as he stared at the creature, who up until a few seconds ago he had thought to be nothing more than a human being. Lust cocked an eyebrow as she smiled coyly at the police officer.

"What's wrong? I thought you told me to not even think about moving."

"Go to hell!!" Kane snapped as he fired off several shots, imbedding two in Lust's skull, and the rest all in the upper area of her chest. The homunculus slumped backwards, her body almost coming to rest on the cold concrete of the walkway before electric-blue lightning started to flash around the wounds and the destroyed tissue regenerated right in front of the three humans' eyes.

Annora swore quietly under her breath as she shoved Katie behind her, getting ready to do something incredibly stupid, before Kane looked back over his shoulder at them, his expression stern.

"Both of you, run, now!" he snapped. "I'll hold them off!"

"But-"

"I said run!" Kane ordered as he snapped off another few shots at Lust to keep her down. "You kids just get the hell out of here, and I'll deal with the rest."

Before Annora could protest in any way, shape, or form, Katie grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her away forcefully, ducking around the corner while pulling the struggling girl along behind her. The dark-haired girl managed to drag her friend back inside the building before Annora let out a low snarl of irritation and roughly snatched her hand away.

"Katie, what the hell was that for?!" she demanded, taking a step back as she openly glared daggers at her friend.

"I just saved your butt!" the bespectacled girl snapped back, her greenish eyes narrowed slightly. "If we hadn't left, if those are the real thing like you say they are, Lust and Gluttony probably would have killed us both!"

"So you let them kill Officer Kane instead?! Oh yes, **that's** real brave! Katie, we just left a man to **die** because we know what the hell we're up against and he doesn't!!"

"And what would have happened if we hadn't run, hmm? We'd probably be dead right along with him!" Katie retorted. "Although maybe that's what you want, so you can be with your brother again."

Annora's eyes widened before she swiftly reached out and slapped her friend soundly across the face, brown eyes narrowed into a disgusted glare.

"Don't you **ever** say that again!" the teen growled angrily, although her voice was shaking slightly. "You have **no** idea what the hell you're talking about!! Katie, we are in very **real** danger here, and if we fuck up, everyone who is even **remotely** connected to us is going to either wind up hurt, or dead. We're dealing with the homunculi here, the real thing, not just some people in costumes, or some stupid characters from a comic book in black and white on a page. These… **things** are real, and they're after us… me in particular. This is **not** a game. People could **die** because of us if we don't do something, and fast."

Katie gawked openly at Annora, her eyes wide in disbelief, just as a frantic voice interrupted their conversation.

"What are you two doing out here?! You're supposed to be in a classroom or out in the parking lot!" a teacher hissed worriedly as she held the library door open a crack. "Don't you two know that there are criminals on campus?! Quick, get in here now!"

Annora turned around to face the woman, and winced slightly when she realized that it was her chem teacher who was currently giving her the stink eye while frantically motioning her to get her ass over there. If she disobeyed the woman now, she knew that she was going to catch hell for it later. Muttering a few choice obscenities under her breath, the sixteen-year old grabbed the sleeve of Katie's jacket and dragged her friend along with her as she stormed over to the library door and went inside.

Mrs. Robins waited until the two girls were safely inside the library before she shut and locked the door behind them, ushering the teenagers towards one of the back rooms.

"Once you two get in there, you need to make sure that you stay away from the door just in case the intruders on campus somehow manage to get inside the building," the science teacher muttered seriously. "We're in complete lockdown mode right now, and they won't let us out until the police catch the intruders."

Annora and Katie exchanged worried looks at this piece of information before the brunette turned to face her teacher, her expression grave.

"Umm, Mrs. Robins? The outside doors aren't locked. Katie and I just came in from outside."

Mrs. Robins went white at this statement, and opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by someone standing behind her.

"Annora, is that you?"

The teenager froze, her eyes widening slightly in surprise as she took a step sideways and stared incredulously at the boy standing in her teacher's shadow.

"Edward?"

Katie looked like she was torn between squealing loudly, and acting like a complete fangirl in general, or passing out from the shock of seeing the Fullmetal Alchemist standing there in her high school library. Annora was just in shock, her mind trying to process just how exactly her friend was here, while Mrs. Robins looked in between the two teens oddly.

"Annora, do you know this young man?" she asked gently as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. Annora managed to nod numbly before a weak smile crossed her face.

"Holy shit Ed, you're here," she muttered incredulously as she reached up and ran a hand through her bangs nervously. "How in the hell did you manage that one?"

Ed shrugged as he managed to give a slightly sheepish grin. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me. I'm pretty sure that my explanation is way weirder than yours," Annora drawled dryly as she crossed her arms over her chest before she smirked smugly at the blonde-haired boy. "Now let's hear it."

"Hear what?"

"You admit that I was right, and you were wrong."

Ed frowned slightly as he arched an eyebrow. "That I was wrong about what?"

Annora gave him a look that promised a massive smack-down of epic proportions once they were in a less serious situation before she let out an annoyed sigh and began to massage the bridge of her nose.

"Never mind," she muttered exasperatedly before she shot the boy a curious look. "So, tell me, how did you end up here in the library?"

"This lady dragged me in here when she saw me out in the hall," the blonde explained sourly as he jerked a thumb meaningfully over in Mrs. Robins' direction. "Said something about a bunch of criminals or something like that and that I could get hurt."

The teenager bit down on her lip to keep from laughing at her friend's annoyed tone. She had no idea how he was here, but she was glad that he had somehow ended up in this world. Before further speculations could be made, however, Katie recovered from her stupor and promptly enveloped the alchemist in a bone-crushing hug.

"Holycrap, it'sreallyyouandIcan'tbelieveitandhtisisthegreatestdayofmylifebecauseIfinallygettomeettherealEdwardElric!!!" she babbled excitedly, practically vibrating from enthusiasm. Ed looked as though he had just been force-fed a lemon as he tried to extract himself from the obsessed girl's grasp, while Annora tried not to snicker. Now that they were safe, she was going to enjoy watching Katie getting her ass handed to her.

That was, until the alchemist said something that unraveled her world by the very seams.

"Haven't you hugged me enough today, you obsessed little freak?!" Ed hissed angrily as he forced his hands under Katie's arms, and for one split second Annora saw his round pupils turn into catlike slits.

"Katie, duck!" she roared frantically as she jerked a spare textbook off of the counter behind her and swung straight at Ed's face. Surprisingly, Katie did as she was told, and Annora nailed the person posing as Edward Elric right in the face, sending him falling flat on his ass with the raised print from the American History textbook title engraved into his now very red face.

Katie managed to sputter several incomplete sounds before she was finally able to make herself understood, and when she did, she sounded as though she thought Annora had just committed one of the worst sins imaginable.

"Annora, why did you-?"

"Katie, get away from him, now," Annora growled, her eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare as she hefted up the textbook again for another good whack incase she need to. "That **thing** is not Edward Elric."

'Ed' chuckled darkly as he looked up at her, an unnerving glint in his eyes as he stared at the teen.

"Clever little bitch," he spat distastefully, his golden eyes still cat-like. "What gave me away?"

"The real Ed doesn't look like a cat-eyed freak," the brown-eyed teen shot back, her tone scornful as she stood protectively in front of Katie and the rest of the students watching her, unsure as to what was going on. "And your dumb-ass little comment about Katie hugging you. The only person that she jumped today was Envy… and oh, what a coincidence, he's a shapeshifter! Not to mention the fact that Ed's never called me a bitch. Other things, yes, but a bitch? Sorry to disappoint, but no that one hasn't happened yet."

Envy scowled as he stood up, Ed's form falling away to reveal his true one underneath, ignoring the collective gasps that came from the teachers and students watching the exchange, before he smirked ferally at Annora.

"So, it looks like you're gonna have to actually fight me this time instead of running away like a little coward," he taunted as he cast a sly glance over at a group of freshmen, and Annora immediately put herself in between them and the homunculus.

"You touch them, you die," she hissed darkly. Envy blinked once in surprise before he threw back his head and let out a bone-chilling laugh. Even the teachers cringed at the sound, somehow knowing that they were up against something far from human.

"Heh, **you** beat **me**? If some puny human brat can defeat me, then I'm God!" Envy chortled nastily. Annora arched an eyebrow as she watched the homunculus with detached interest.

"If God is even half as fugly as you, then I don't wanna go to heaven," she retorted as she rolled her eyes upwards. Envy stopped snickering as he fixed her with a serious look, the same kind of smirk that you give a bug right before you step on it twitching about his mouth.

"Do you honestly think that you can stop me, you stupid human brat?" the Sin asked mockingly, his lavender eyes glinting with untold malevolence. "You just don't get it, do you? I'm the one with the power here, not you."

Dead silence permeated the library for several seconds as the two combatants' glared daggers at each other before all hell broke loose.

"No, **you're** the one who doesn't get, you asshole!!!" Annora snarled, her brown eyes practically blazing with fury. She'd had more than enough, thank you very much, and she was going to let this bastard know it. Screw the consequences, she didn't care anymore! "This is **not** your world. Alchemy, homunculi, the Philosopher's Stone… none of that exists here!! Hell, _**you're**_ not even real!!!" the teenager spat as she jabbed finger accusingly at the homunculi's chest, forcing him to take few steps back out into the main part of the library in order to stay out of prodding range. "You and your psychotic friends are nothing more than characters in some stupid Japanese comic book, black and white images printed in ink on sheets of paper. Don't you get it, jackass? YOU'RE A FUCKING WORK OF FICTION, THE BY-PRODUCT OF A HUMAN WOMAN'S IMAGINATION!!! EVERYTHING THAT YOU KNOW, HELL, EVEN YOUR OWN MEMORIES AND PERSONALITY, ARE **FAKE**!!!"

Envy stared wide-eyed at Annora as she shrieked this last part, surprised at the girl's vehemence. The teenage girl stood there, her chest heaving from exertion after having shouted out all of the frustration that had been building up inside her for the past few months, before she took a deep, calming breath, and fixed the homunculus with an icy glare.

"Now I'm going to tell you this one more time; get the **hell** out of my town," she hissed, venom dripping from her words. "Go the hell back to Amestris, and **stay **there. This is my world, and you **don't** belong here."

The green-haired Sin looked at the irate teenager for a few moments, clearly unnerved, before an impassive expression crossed his face.

"And what if I don't feel like leaving?" Envy asked, a cold note to his words. Annora snorted rudely as she crossed her arms over her chest and sent him a filthy look.

"Then you're probably going to end up hidden in some government lab being poked and prodded at for the rest of your life, which could be quite a long time," she drawled nastily before her expression brightened. "Actually, I wouldn't really have a problem with that one. I might even ask them to send pictures."

"You're one sadistic little bitch."

"It takes one to know one, faggot."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a pain?"

Annora smirked coyly at the Sin as she planted her hands on her hips. "Life is pain, retard. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something."

To her surprise, Envy sneered at her as he crossed his arms in front of his scrawny chest.

"Oh, really now?" he asked nastily as he bared his pointed teeth in an unnerving grin. Annora felt the first hint of fear as she realized that, in spite of how snarky and intelligent that _Princess Bride_ quote had sounded in her head, to Envy it had probably sounded like an invitation to kick her ass.

"Ah, fuck," she groaned as she fell into one of the stances that Alphonse had taught her. She was in so much trouble, and there was no way that Ed or Al was going to just magically drop in and help save her sorry ass.

Damn her and her big mouth.

Envy darted forward, and easily caught the punch that Annora tried to throw at his face, before he reached forward and grabbed a fistful of her jacket and sweater.

"Well then, if life is pain, then why don't I do you a favor and release you from it?" the androgynous homunculus asked with a knowing smirk as he pulled Annora up close to his face, deranged glee shining in his eyes.

"Go to hell!" Annora snarled defiantly, baring her teeth in a clearly threatening gesture as she glared daggers at Envy. The homunculus didn't appear frightened by the useless motion as he gave her a condescending sneer and hefted her up in the air.

"Actually, I think you'll be visiting there first," he taunted before he flung the teenager full-force at the plate-glass window leading out into the tiled hallway. "Enjoy eternity, bitch!"

Annora almost bit clear through her lip as her back collided painfully with the glass, feeling the supposedly bullet-proof glass shattering all around her, as well as the wire mesh imbedded within it give way behind her, before she went flying out into the hallway. The sixteen-year old did gasp out an obscenity as her spine casually dented the brick wall on the other side of the hallway before she fell to the floor in a shower of shattered glass and twisted metal wire, her entire body one massive throbbing lump of pain.

If this wasn't Hell, then it came pretty damn close, because she was almost positive that eternal torment couldn't get much worse.

While Annora tried her damndest to keep from blacking out from the pain, she noticed through her rapidly tunneling vision a pair of thick-soled boots come running down the hallway before coming to a stop right in front of her. The pair of armored feet running alongside him almost completely escaped her notice, were it not for the obscenely loud clanging sound that they produced.

A loud roaring noise filled the teen's ears as the individual wearing boots crouched down in front of her, preventing Annora from hearing anything except wordless muttering. It was then that the person reached down and gently drew Annora up into a sitting position, moving his knee so that it was behind her back and she could lean back up against it.

It was then that Annora Thomas looked up into the concerned golden eyes of Edward Elric, and was completely incapable of saying anything even remotely sarcastic.

"Jeez Annora," the Fullmetal Alchemist joked with a forced smile on his face, "can't you even stay out of trouble for one day?"

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Finally, I finished it!!! Huzzah! I kicked the evil writer's block's ass!!

Sorry for the long-ass wait people, but school, family, and the inability to make the scene fall together got in my way. And then, lo and behold, it finally fell into place for me!!

Thank you God!!!

And now for some more important matters. In November, someone stole several chapters from my story, and I was alerted to this by a reviewer. It has been taken care of, and the person knows exactly who they are if they're reading this. You don't need to flame them, or anything like that, which is why I'm not saying their name. However, I would really, **really**, REALLY appreciate it if all of you guys would keep an eye out for that kind of stuff and let me know when you find something that looks suspicious. And I mean for all of my stories, not just 'What One May Never See'.

And, as a warning for any of you fatheads who might think to steal any of my stories, I will hunt you down, I **will** find your thieving ass, and I will not be a very pleasant person to deal with once I do get my hands on you. I tend to be very nasty when I'm pissed off, just ask either one of my brothers.

Anyways, thanks to

**Kuchaki, mOOfins-of-dOOM, AlienaCooper, Giant-flying-radish-of-doom, sunshineemomix, Dontmezwitme, tatewaki2000, HAERTOFAVAMPYRE, Squeaker-Dee, TheWinchesterAngel, OctoberTalisman, Khait Khepri, Zilo Sugarpill, Malaloba, Damarikomu, emeraldcyclone, tiggeranddash, Phantom SunsSong, A.C.E.-Samma, Dimly, KageArai, HeeHeeHee01, Sahweet, AnimeFallingstar, Eryn Goddess of Chaos, MyDarkSideHasAWayOfHerOwn, 13Lulu's, , agent000, Dragon of Twilight**

Thanks for reviewing!!! Sorry for the lack of personal responses, but I'm tired, and there are a ton of reviews for this chapter.


	26. Stress and Previews

Okay, as of today I have received several notes from people asking me when I'm going to update 'What One May Never See'. I regret to inform you that the next update may take a while, mostly because I've recently gone back and re-read several of my earliest chapters, and have come to the conclusion that they desperately need to be edited. Typos, spelling and grammatical errors abound in at least the first five chapters, and some of the plot needs some serious help, or at least a little more detail thrown in to make it not as quick and easy. Some of the editing in the chapters will be minor, while others are major, and I will post a note of some kind that will tell everyone just how much has changed so you all know what's going on.

Also, my mother is going in for surgery in about three days, and it's pretty major. The recovery time for her surgery is about two months, so that means that I'm going to be pretty busy helping out around the house because she won't be able to… not to mention the fact that my older brother is a bum and won't help out worth beans even when he's not working. College was great this last semester, but it took a lot out of me from the workload, and I'm still recovering from the case of PTSD that all of my finals gave me. My brother is being a butthead and being difficult with the rest of my family… again. One of my friends is getting married on the 20th, so I have to help with that too… in short, Hitokiri is about to spontaneously combust from all of the stress and really wishes that she could get the hell out of dodge and just escape from it all for a while.

I have a question for everyone: If I were to rewrite 'What One May Never See' into an original story, how many of you would want to read it? Basically, Annora and Ethan would be the same people, but everyone else would change, as would several good-sized chunks of the plot. Envy would still be in the story, but he'd be radically different… well, in the fact of his creation and some of his attitude, as well as how he treats his own kind. So, just let me know what you think, okay?

Okay, now that I've got that off of my chest, I am going to bring you some good news. I am starting a sidestory to 'What One May Never See' called 'Little Moments' that I will update while I work on editing 'What One May Never See'. Pretty much it will consist of a bunch of one-shots of events that are referred to in 'WOMNS', but aren't in the actual story.

So, to make up for my complete and utter lack of activity since January, here's a preview of the first chapter of 'Little Moments'.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Little Moments**

**The Shopping Incident**

"Annora, is that the only shirt you have?"

The girl in question froze as she stood there at the kitchen counter, trying to figure out whether or not this was a trick question, before she turned around to face the seven-foot tall suit of armor standing behind her. The dishes she had been drying off left over from breakfast – a piece of hastily eaten toast and a glass of orange juice – were left lying abandoned on the counter, along with the dishtowel she had been using to dry them.

"And what has you so interested?" she asked dryly as she arched an eyebrow, smiling faintly to show the boy that she wasn't upset by the question. Al actually managed to look nervous as he rubbed the back of his helmet with his hand, letting out a sheepish chuckle as he did so.

"Well, you've been here for five days now, and I keep seeing you wear the same shirt over and over again," he pointed out, indicating to the blue long-sleeved shirt that Annora was currently wearing under a black t-shirt that proudly sported the phrase 'You say PSYCHO like it's a bad thing'. Annora gave the younger boy a wry grin as she crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back against the wooden counter easily.

"Sorry, but I forgot to pack a spare change of clothes for the sleepover," she drawled sarcastically before she straightened up and returned to the task of drying the dishes. "Certain individuals neglected to mention that this was going to be more than an overnight thing."

"Oh."

The teen scowled slightly as she started scrubbing rather vigorously at her plate and continued muttering, ignoring Al's oh-so-astute response. "Said certain egotistical individuals that also seem to have a rather inappropriate obsession with burning things and tormenting hapless teenage girls who have done nothing wrong other than borrow a book from one of their mental friends."

Al blinked as he watched the older girl, noting from her somewhat tense posture that she wasn't as uncaring about the subject as she would like him to believe. The fact that she was currently toweling the dishes dry with an irritated vengeance was just another indication that Annora Thomas was not a happy camper. Although Alphonse knew that if he had been told that he and his family technically didn't exist, and that he had to stay with a bunch of strangers until the military could actually locate his brother, he probably wouldn't be very happy either.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to the youngest Elric as he gave Annora an odd look.

"Annora, have you been sleeping in your clothes?"

Surprisingly the teen blanched at the question before she gave a nervous laugh and refused to meet his red gaze.

"Well, you see, there's a funny story to that," she said with a sheepish chuckle as she started to put the dry dishes away. "Define what you would qualify as sleeping in your clothes. Because if you really want to argue about it, we always sleep in clothing of some form… well, at least those of us who aren't nudists or exhibitionists."

If he could have, Al would have arched an eyebrow as he looked at the brunette oddly.

"It's where you fall asleep wearing the same clothes that you wore the day before," the boy explained patiently, not really wanting to inquire as to why Annora felt the need to mention nudists in her explanation, even if she was being sarcastic. Annora gave him a look that Al had quickly learned to interpret that she was embarrassed and didn't want to talk about whatever was making her uncomfortable.

She did that with a lot of things, like when Al tried to convince her that she didn't have to do any chores, or when he asked about her parents.

"Umm… I plead the Fifth?"

"Annora, that's not an answer," Al sighed wearily.

"Yes it is. I means that I have the right to remain silent, because anything I say can and will be used against me in a court of law," she quipped brightly with a shit-eating smirk on her face, at least until she wrinkled her nose slightly as a thought hit her. "Then again, Mustang's already been doing that with me, so it's not like it exactly works."

The girl let out a long sigh of defeat as she reached up and raked her hand through her bangs, causing her hair to fall messily into her eyes.

"Yes, I've been sleeping in my clothes," she finally admitted reluctantly before she shot Al a wry look. "No offense or anything, but there is no way in hell that I'd ever sleep starkers, especially not when I'm in a house with two teenage boys."

"And I thank you for it," Al said with a chuckle, trying to dispel the tension that was lingering in the air. Annora quirked an eyebrow curiously at him before she allowed a sardonic smile to creep across her face.

"Hey, my brother's the one in my family who's mental, not me," she stated with a dismissive shrug as she straightened up and made as though to leave the kitchen. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some math homework to finish up. I don't need my geometry teacher blowing a gasket because I crapped out on my homework and the best excuse I can give her is 'I accidentally wound up in this fictional country and got held captive by their military over the weekend'."


	27. The End I'm So Sorry

You know, I never honestly thought that I would be doing this. After I abandoned my Inuyasha story two years ago, I made a promise to myself that I would try to finish all of the stories that I have started. Unfortunately, that is just not the case.

This past week has been absolute hell for me, between scrambling to finish all of my schoolwork so I can get a decent final grade, finals, suddenly working 40 hours a week and having consecutive double shifts _while_ trying to finish up finals, and my dog becoming deathly ill. And to top it all off, my dog, my continuous companion since I was a small child, died yesterday. I had to take her to the pet crematorium so I could have her ashes, since I live in an area where I can't burry my dog due to the lack of space. In short, the shit cart decided to do a hit and run on my life. And, if that already wasn't enough, I've been continually harassed by a reviewer over the past week.

This individual had taken it upon himself to 'help' me by continually sending me my own chapters and editing them through spell-check on Microsoft Word. Even after I asked him to stop, politely. His excuse is that he 'just wants to help'. I did not ask for his 'help', and I had been doing just fine on my own when it came to editing. My best friend, who can be really harsh when it comes to editing, had been assisting me, but it looks like all of her help and hard work is going to go to waste.

I'm quitting 'What One May Never See'.

I am sick and tired of someone who has no clue who the hell I am, what I'm trying to do with my life, what I'm going though, _demanding_ that I drop everything and write just because they're bored. And for all of you who have been reading and reviewing this story since I started, I truly am sorry. You don't deserve this, and I even had a new chapter that I was going to post next week, but it looks like that's not gonna happen.

And to answer any questions on the subject, yes, I am quitting this story because of one person.

This person's antics were the straw that broke the camel's back. I've had enough. I've been under continuous stress since the beginning of November, especially since I'm in an incredibly demanding college program, and add in work on top of that, you get the basic ingredients for a complete and total emotional breakdown.

Here's the message that I sent to him.

_How in the world is continually harassing me helping?_

_Okay, how do I possibly word this without going absolutely ballistic? I do not want, nor need your help in editing my story. And the fact that you continue to ignore my requests is really starting to annoy. I did not respond to any of your previous e-mails due to the fact that they all contained the same BLOODY message: LOL (insert obvious remark about chapter here) Great chapter. I ignored your request for a response, because if I usually do respond, I do it in the next chapter. Obviously I was wrong in doing that, seeing as you took it upon yourself to 'help' me get my editing done so I would update sooner. Here's the thing with that; all you have managed to accomplish right now through your actions is that you have really, REALLY pissed me off._

_I would rather have a single review that actually meant something and gave some constructive criticism than a thousand reviews with the contents as stated above. Also, I do not like it when someone demands me to update or do anything else. Writing does not run on time schedules, and real life is more important than anything that takes place online. A week ago, I had never even heard of you, and all of a sudden you're editing my chapters for me without even asking permission? I honestly have no idea what to say to that, other than the fact that I'm incredibly annoyed._

_I can appreciate that you're a fan of my work, and I'm flattered that you enjoy it so much. However, I do have a life outside of FanFiction, in spite of what you may believe. I go to school, I have a family, and friends, and I have a job. In short, I have multiple demands on my time that I need to attend to first before I write ANYTHING. I understand that may be disappointing, but hey, that's life. I am a grown woman, and I write fanfiction for fun, not because I have to. To have someone actually order me to do what I see as a relaxing pastime really takes all of the fun out of it. Not to mention the fact that it causes an insane amount of unwanted stress that I really do not need on top of what I already have to deal with._

_As a direct result of this, I have made the decision that I am quitting 'What One May Never See'. I can no longer handle the stress of having someone that only knows me through my stories that are posted online take it upon themselves to continually harass me until I update. And just in case you're getting the wrong message, I am not upset because you reviewed for every chapter. Hundreds of people do that and it doesn't bother me at all, because reviews are feedback. I'm upset because you came upon my work a week ago, and decided that you needed to harass me and give 'help' without even asking, and without even BEGINNING to think that maybe, just maybe, I have something else going on. So, I am no longer updating this story._

_End of story. No further explanation needed._

Again, I am so sorry, but I just can't do this anymore.


	28. Good News and Bad News

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. I usually consider myself to be a fairly level-headed person, but a certain reviewer is really starting to get on my nerves.

Last night, I received a PM from the gentleman responsible for my breakdown last week, one Rubberman 2025. Right after I had explicitly told him to never contact me again. Here are the contents of his message, and I would really like to know if I'm wrong in being incredibly offended by this.

_You have received a private message from:_

Name: Rubberman2025

Subject: requesting permition

i know, you don't want me contacting you, but i refuse to make the same mistake twice. i'm planing to write a story, and post it on FFN. there for, i request permission to use your OCs in my stories.

This message came after approximately twenty different versions of him groveling via e-mail, and several rather offensive 'ideas' for edits to my chapters. Here is an example of one of said ideas, and I'm sure that all of you can understand why I am incredibly not amused.

_You have received a private message from:_

Name: Rubberman2025  
--------------------

_some one aught to transemute a nose onto envy's back, right above his ass, making sure that it's hooked up to his scence of smell. that way, every time envy farts\drops an ass bomb\cuts the cheese, HE ENDS UP SMELLING IT! WAHAHAHAHA, WAHAHAHAHA, WAHAHAHAHA! i hope this gives you a great laugh._

Now imagine receiving about five more PMs with roughly the same kind of content, and you'll get a fairly decent idea as to how incredibly pissed off I am. All of these e-mails were sent after both my beta ArabianDaze and I requested him to leave me the hell alone. I swear to god that I actually saw red when I received this particular PM with this idiot actually having the **gall** to ask if he could use my characters after everything he put me through.

I had given him a final ultimatum previous to the first message, which consisted of this:

_I am highly curious to know what part of 'Leave me alone' do you fail to comprehend? I do not wish to have any form of communication with you... AT ALL. Since being polite has obviously not gotten anywhere through your skull, allow me to be blunt._

Leave me the HELL alone. Failure to comply with this request will result in me blocking you, and reporting you to the site admins for continued harassment.

And no, that does not mean that you can use my personal e-mail to continue to send me messages either. Because that will result in a report of harassment to Yahoo as well. I have absolute zero interest in anything that you wish to say to me, and quite personally, I have no use whatsoever for any of the idea that you have sent me thus far. When I told you earlier to leave me be, I really did mean it.

I really do not wish to resort to underhanded tactics, but so far you have left me no choice. If you fail to leave me alone and stop sending me e-mails of any kind, I will inform all of my reviewers exactly who you are, on TOP of the report to the site admins. Have I made myself clear now?

I really tried to be cold, but polite. Really, I did. But what I received just made me so mad that I just lost it. Let it just be said that my response to this moron was not PG. Actually, I think that it went more along the lines of an R rating, because I was so mad. Due to his actions, I have kept my promise in stating that I would tell everyone his name, because right now I feel that this a-hole deserves everything that he has coming to him. I have also blocked him, and have reported him to FFN for continued harassment.

However, I am going to be keeping a **very** close eye on this individual in the future. Because, so help me God, if he does use any of my characters after I have expressly forbidden him from doing so… well, it won't be pretty.

On another, more positive note, I have calmed down a bit when it comes to the idea of quitting 'What One May Never See'. After talking things over with my beta quite extensively, I have come to the decision that I really don't want to quit the story. I would feel absolutely awful for abandoning it after I have worked so hard to get to the point that I have, and I am far too attached to the characters and plot to just sever all ties to it. Not to mention the fact that I was absolutely swamped with incredibly thoughtful reviews from all of you who wished me well, and apologized for all of the stress that I was dealing with at the time. You guys sure know how to make a girl feel appreciated, you know that, right?

So, sometime within the next few weeks, I will be posting the next chapter for 'What One May Never See'. I'm already halfway done with it, so it's just a simple fact of me sitting down and writing my ass off so I can get it finished. Thank you all so very much for all of the support and well-wishes that you've sent me so far, and I apologize for putting you guys through the wringer the way I did.

Also, major kudos goes to my beta/roommate/best friend, ArabianDaze for letting me vent the way she did, and for keeping me from making a very **big** mistake.


	29. Chapter 25: Not All There

"God does not play dice with the universe; he plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time." – Terry Pratchett, _Good Omens_

**Chapter Twenty-Five:**

**Not All There**

"Jeez Annora, can't you even stay out of trouble for one day?"

The girl blinked dazedly up at her friend before she reached up and weakly swatted him across the face.

"Oh, and you're one to talk," she gritted out as she forced herself to sit up under her own power, steadfastly ignoring the fact that the entire hallway was currently acting like a rowboat in the middle of a typhoon. That is, until she tried to get to her feet and instead fell flat back on her ass, almost cracking the back of her head against the brick wall behind her before Ed intercepted her by catching her by the shoulders.

The Fullmetal Alchemist frowned slightly as he watched the girl's sudden lack of coordination, and immediately held up one gloved finger in front of her face.

"Annora, follow my finger," he ordered gently before he moved it back and forth in front of her face, watching how the teen struggled to keep her eyes on his white-gloved finger. "Shit, you're really out of it, aren't you?"

Annora scowled at the blonde before she tried to flip him the bird. 'Tried' being the key word here, seeing as she held up her index finger instead, so the gesture was far less than insulting than it had intended to be.

"Bite me. I'd like to see you get your ass thrown into a wall and still be able to see straight."

Ed chuckled slightly before a frown crossed his face. "Yeah, Al and I saw your little flying lesson from down the hall. So who the hell did you piss off enough to make them do that to you?"

The teenager shot her friend a dirty look as she forced herself into a crouching position, trying to ignore the wave of nausea that followed the action, before she looked up at the broken window.

"Let's just say that Envy thought that it would be great fun to follow me home," she growled darkly, and Ed's eyes widened slightly at this information before a shrill scream broke off their conversation. Annora flinched at the noise before she forced herself to her feet and peered into the library, only to go dead white at the sight that met her eyes.

Envy stood in the middle of the library, with Lust and Gluttony flanking him on either side, a sadistic sneer planted firmly on his face as he held Katie up in the air by her throat.

"Hey Lust, can I eat this girl?" Gluttony whined as he gazed up at Katie with the same expression dogs do when they're begging for a treat. The buxom homunculus ignored his plea as Envy tightened his grip on the girl's throat, and Katie managed to gasp out a retort.

"No, you wouldn't want to eat me! I'm a nerd, you'll get nerd germs!"

"Somehow, I don't think that'll stop him," Envy drawled, a murderous glint in his eyes. "But why worry, girl? You'll be dead before he even gets your corpse! That is, of course, only if I don't feel like I haven't avenged myself to the fullest extent."

The homunculus paused for a second, apparently thinking, before he pulled Katie's face close to his and smirked, his eyes shining with a combination of sadistic glee and utter hatred as he sneered knowingly at the now-cringing girl. "You'd be surprised what you can live through."

Annora's vision went red as she stared at the sight of the homunculus holding her best friend in a stranglehold, and clearly enjoying it. The teen swore that she felt her blood pressure skyrocket, and she clenched her fists so hard that her knuckles turned a bloodless white. Without even acknowledging Ed or Al's existence, or their protests as she wrenched herself free from Ed's grip, she barreled towards the library doors, slamming them open while using her shoulder to take the brunt of the charge.

"You get your scummy hands the FUCK off my friend, you goddamned himbo wannabe!" she snarled out as all eyes focused on her, and more than one of the teachers gasped at the picture that she presented. With lacerations from the glass and wire covering her exposed skin, and blood dripping into her left eye from the cut just above her eyebrow, as well as torn clothing and the murderous expression on her face, Annora knew that she probably looked like death warmed over.

She was just in too much pain, and **way** too pissed to care.

"Well well well, look who survived going out the window," Envy sneered as he dropped Katie unceremoniously in a heap on the floor, leaving the bespectacled girl to scramble away from him while gasping for breath. Annora noticed this, and immediately her eyes narrowed even further as she glared venomously at the green-haired homunculus.

"Yeah, well, as it turns out, Heaven doesn't want me, and Hell is afraid that I'll take over," she retorted pithily as she stared defiantly at Envy. "So they had nowhere else left to send me but back here. Apparently I'm not exactly welcome there. Although Satan did mention something about making sure that I gave your sorry ass a one-way ticket downstairs. Apparently he needs a new bitch or something like that."

Envy turned a very disturbing shade of puce at this comment, and Annora caught the sound of a muffled snort from the other side of the broken window. Obviously Ed found her comment amusing, even if Envy failed to see the humor in it.

Knowing that she was playing with fire, Annora tried to look nonchalant as she circled around the three homunculi, noting with grim satisfaction that they all turned around to follow her. The sixteen-year old forced a condescending smirk onto her face as she looked at Envy, and paused for a moment.

"You do know what that means, right? To be Satan's bitch, I mean," she jeered as she looked the irate homunculus straight in the eye. "Because you sure as hell already dress the part. I've seen some of the school sluts wear less revealing clothing than that. While swimming."

Envy let out a wordless, animalistic snarl of rage as he threw himself forward at Annora, and the teen barely managed to scramble out of the way. Lust watched the fight for a few moments, an odd little half-smirk on her face, before she started jabbing out at Annora with her nails, giving the girl cause to launch out a litany of incredibly foul verbal abuse as she dodged both Lust and Envy's attacks while Gluttony just stood off to the side and watched the entire thing with a stupid grin on his face.

With the trio of Sins thus occupied, Ed snuck forward through the library doors and approached Katie, motioning for her to go through the heavy doors as he shoved Annora's backpack into her hands, along with a certain canine tagalong, before he darted back behind one of the tall bookcases. Alphonse on the other hand, approached the assembled teachers and students huddled in the back room, trying to appear as non-threatening as a seven-foot suit of armor possibly could.

"You really need to get out of here," he said as he bowed politely at the assembled people. "Is there a back door that you can use to get out of here?"

One of the librarians nodded weakly, obviously trying to comprehend how a talking suit of armor was moving on its own. Al immediately moved to block the door to the main portion of the library, trying to look reassuring as he did so.

"I'll guard the door while you get everyone out," he offered before he was distracted by Annora shrieking a series of unrepeatable profanities that she had probably learned from Ed. When he turned back around to face the crowd of teachers and students, he suddenly found himself faced with a rather intimidating-looking woman who was standing in front of him with her arms crossed in front of her chest, her graying hair pulled back into a severe bun.

"I trust that you really are a friend of Miss Thomas this time young man," she stated sternly, giving Al a warning look. For someone who had just seen a shapeshifter for the first time, Mrs. Robins was handling the shock fairly well.

"Yes ma'am, I am," the boy said as he bowed politely to the older woman. "I promise that my brother and I will keep her safe."

"I didn't say anything about keeping her safe," Mrs. Robins pointed out with a small smile. "That girl won't let anyone protect her. All I ask is that you make sure that she doesn't get herself hurt dealing with that **thing** that was in here earlier. I would hate to lose one of my best students."

Al mentally winced as he remembered how much effort Annora had put into standing up out in the hallway, and decided that her teacher didn't need to know about that for the time being. Instead, he just nodded once in agreement before he turned around to face the main portion of the library.

"I'll do my best," he promised quietly. Mrs. Robins looked somewhat mollified at his statement as she took a step backwards and made as though to approach the rest of the staff and students leaving through the back door to the library.

"That's all that I ask."

With that statement, she disappeared into the crowd while Al turned around to focus on his job of blocking the doorway by whatever means necessary. Unfortunately, he also turned around just in time to see Annora get thrown straight into one of the library's many bookcases by Envy, her face screwing up into a pained grimace as she fell to the floor in a bruised heap. The girl swore that she felt something in her chest crack when she hit the floor, and tried not to let herself become physically ill at the wave of nausea that threatened to swamp her.

Something told her that whatever had cracked was probably one of her ribs.

"Aw, what's wrong?" Envy sneered mockingly as he stalked up to the injured girl, who was struggling valiantly to get to her feet. "Can't the little bitch keep the promises that she makes? After all, I thought you said that would kick my ass." The homunculus looked thoughtful for a few moments before he flashed her a patronizing smirk. "What is that belief that you stupid humans have? Oh yes, Equivalent Exchange. So tell me, girl, do you think that Equivalent Exchange will save you now?"

Annora hesitated for a moment, a somewhat unsure expression flickering across her face as she thought over what Envy had just said, before she rolled her eyes upwards and gave him a scornful look.

"You know what, if you really want to see Equivalent Exchange, you could always shut up and let me kick the shit out of you," she said flatly, although the fact that the corner of her mouth twitched upward slightly into an strained smirk betrayed the fact that she wasn't entirely sure of the situation herself. Envy scowled slightly at the insult before he resumed his typical cocksure attitude.

"Do you honestly believe that I would ever possibly lower myself to letting a worm like you harm me?" he cackled. "That blow to your head must have affected you more than I thought."

Annora let out a harsh, depreciating laugh that was completely unlike her as she glared venomously up at her tormentor.

"That's what you think. And by the way, I never said that I'd kick your ass," she managed to force out as she slowly stood up, using the bookcase to help support her, before she flashed the homunculus a cocky smirk. "All I said was that I'd be getting a front-row seat to the truly spectacular kicking of your ass."

Confusion flashed across Envy's face as he stared at Annora, arching a green eyebrow upwards in bewilderment.

"And what do you mean by that?"

The girl merely grinned wolfishly at him just as a flash of alchemic light flared up behind him and the other two homunculi, and all three of them were promptly impaled through the chest from behind by a series of lethal-looking stone spikes. Ed scowled darkly as he stepped out from behind the bookcase where he had been hiding and gave Annora a concerned look when he saw that she was holding onto one of the shelves in a white-knuckled grip just so she could stay standing.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked as he approached his friend, who now looked very pale as she tried to keep her breathing shallow.

"I'll live… I think," she quipped weakly as she gave Ed a faint grin before she glanced over at the currently inert forms of Envy, Lust, and Gluttony. "C'mon, we need to get the hell out of here before they wake up again. As much fun as it was pissing Envy off, I don't think I can survive another round of 'kick the Annora'. I think the bastard cracked at least one of my ribs when he was punting me around."

Ed winced sympathetically as he gently pulled Annora away from the bookcase, only to freeze when he heard the taller girl let out a muffled grunt of pain. Before he could say anything, a bone-chilling laugh broke through the heavy silence permeating the library.

"Well, it sounds like the loud-mouthed bitch finally hurt herself," Envy jeered as he wrenched himself free from the spike, the wound healing almost instantly. Ed scowled before he roughly thrust Annora behind him, assuming a defensive position in front of the startled teen.

"Don't you even think about touching her," he spat, glaring daggers at the homunculus. Envy smirked darkly at the two teens before he bared his teeth at them, clearly enjoying Annora's instinctive recoil at the sight of the unnaturally pointed tips.

"Oh, and how are you gonna stop me, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?" Envy sneered before he glanced over to where Al was standing. "Do you honestly think that you and your tin can of a brother can do anything against us? There's three of us against you three twerps, and we can't die. You can."

"Bull," Annora suddenly growled out as she glared at the green-haired Sin. "What do you want to bet that if we kill you enough times you'll finally stay dead?"

Envy gritted his teeth as he stared at the girl, an odd look crossing his face as he shot her an irritated glare.

"You're not nearly as stupid as you lead everyone to believe, are you?" he hissed darkly, and Annora merely smirked wryly in response.

"Got it in one."

A tense silence fell between the homunculi and the teenagers, and Ed made a soft noise of irritation in the back of his throat as he glared murderously at Envy. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to just charge into a fight with the lanky homunculus with fists swinging, but the fact that Annora couldn't defend herself properly held her back. He knew that the second he went after Envy, Annora would be a sitting duck.

He absolutely _despised_ situation like this, ones where it was a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. Suddenly, a much-welcomed distraction decided to present itself in the form of a certain raven-haired fangirl.

"Ed, if you make them barf up the Red Stones they've eaten, you can kill them!" a voice shouted out, and all five of the individuals participating in the stand-off whipped around to stare at Katie, who stood near the entrance of the library while holding Annora's backpack close to her chest. The other girl let out a loud groan at the sight of her friend and fought the urge to cover her face with her hand, an expression of weary exasperation flickering across her features.

"Damn it Katie, I told you to run for a reason," Annora muttered irritably under her breath as she tried to pull away from Ed so he could have the freedom to fight if need be. The alchemist shot her a warning look out of the corner of his eye when she tried to move that told her plainly that he wasn't going to let her do that.

"Don't move," he ordered sternly, and when he caught sight of the look that Annora was giving Katie, he chuckled softly. "Hey, don't look at me. She's your friend."

"I know," the girl retorted dryly. "And I'm going to muster up the will to live just so I can have the altogether questionable privilege of kicking her ass all the way from here to Shanghai."

"Get in line."

"Sorry, but I've known her longer. I have dibbs."

Envy stared at Katie for several long moment, an indescribable expression flickering across his face as he glowered at the human teenager, who seemed to almost visibly wilt under the homunculi's venomous glare. An uncertain look flickered across Katie's face as she took a step backwards, and her eyes widened in horror as she realized that she had just basically painted a bright red target on her back.

"You…" the homunculus snarled as he took a step towards the dark-haired girl, who let out a frightened 'eep!' as she pressed her back up against the library doors. "How the _hell_ do you know that?!"

Annora hissed out a curse as she jerked away from Ed and stalked towards the Sin, trying not to wince as the movement tugged painfully at her ribs. When she was close enough, she reached out and snatched up a rather large hardcover dictionary from one of the bookshelves and threw it hard at Envy's head. The homunculus swore loudly as the weighty book collided with the back of his head, and he whipped around to stare at the other girl.

"Do you have some kind of a death wish, bitch?" he demanded harshly. Annora didn't respond as she stared at him stonily, her expression hard, before she said three words that made Envy fall silent.

"I told her."

Lust and Gluttony both faced the brunette girl with identical expressions of shock, while Envy had an expression on his face somewhat akin to someone who had just be slapped upside the head with a dead fish and then told that flying hamsters had invaded the planet. Ed just gaped incredulously at Annora, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly in shock at the girl's suicidal stupidity. Al, having gotten all of the students and teachers out of the library safely, chose that moment to grab Katie and forcefully haul her out of sight out into the hallway.

A strained silence fell over the library as the three homunculi stared at Annora, who merely looked back at them stonily, before Envy finally snapped out of his trance.

"You did what?" he asked menacingly, and Annora shrugged nonchalantly in response.

"You heard what I said," she stated with a slight smirk as she quirked an eyebrow. "Or are you deaf as well as stupid?"

Envy let out a low growl at the insult before a look of sadistic cunning flashed across his face, and he took a step towards Annora.

"Oh really?" he sneered. "And why don't I believe that? You don't know shit about alchemy, so how could you possibly know anything about a homunculus? I think that your friend over there is the one with the alchemic know-how, and you're just the brawn."

The girl didn't respond as she stood stiffly in front of the three homunculi and glared daggers at Envy, and she didn't need to. Envy smirked at Annora's lack of a response as he cracked his knuckles menacingly before he looked behind him in order to return to terrifying Katie. The complete and utter lack of the girl's presence in the now-abandoned library startled him for a moment, and Annora smirked grimly at the irate expression on the homunculus's face.

"Who said anything about me not being smart?" she asked as she gave Envy a satisfied grin. "Street smarts and random knowledge; it's a beautiful thing."

"Says the stupid brat who is dumb enough to stand in front of me unarmed," Envy growled irritably as he flexed his fingers menacingly, almost as though he wanted to strangle the girl. Actually, he did want to strangle her. "You're hardly a threat to me, _human_."

Surprisingly, Annora didn't seem cowed one bit as she smirked at Envy, although there was a slightly maniac glint in her eyes as she stared fearlessly at the irate homunculus.

"I am armed with random knowledge, and that makes me dangerous..." she quipped brightly with a grin, and even Envy couldn't repress the slight shudder that ran through him as the girl's expression suddenly turned downright homicidal. "Especially since that random knowledge is of alchemy."

It was only then that Envy noticed that Annora had drawn a transmutation circle on the palm of her left hand using her own blood while she had been distracting them, and by then it was too late for any of the homunculi to react as the wounded girl abruptly dropped to her knees and slammed her hand down on the ground with a loud, wet-sounding 'slap'. Startled shrieks and furious curses ripped through the air as the ground beneath the three homunculi suddenly erupted into a veritable thicket of razor-sharp spikes that jutted upwards in every which direction. Within seconds, Envy, Lust, and Gluttony were all hidden behind the screen of very lethal protrusions, but that did nothing to disguise the very distinctive sounds of razor-sharp objects being shoved through flesh.

By the time Annora finally stopped the transmutation, she was almost dead white, and she looked as though she wanted to be violently ill as she sat there limply on the ground, her entire body trembling with a combination of fatigue and fear as she tried desperately to suck air into her lungs. Ed darted forward and managed to catch her right before she collapsed, and tried to put on a brave face as clouded brown eyes looked up at him through a haze of pain.

"I… don't let them hurt anyone else," Annora whispered hoarsely as she struggled not to pass out. For some reason, the transmutation had absolutely drained her. Even though it was an extremely rudimentary one, it shouldn't have zapped her energy the way it had.

While Ed was pondering the strangeness of Annora's reaction to the transmutation, his attention was suddenly drawn back to the multitude of spike that she had created. For no good reason, his skin crawled as he stared at the construct, a scowl making its way across his face as he scrutinized the concrete spikes intently. For some reason, his body was telling him to get the hell out of there, and that he needed to do it _now_.

The reason behind this particular feeling suddenly made itself known, and the alchemist dropped a series of startled swears as a set of stone gates that he would never forget, even if he lived to be a hundred, appeared directly behind the net of razor-sharp nest of spikes that Annora had made to contain the homunculi. Ed immediately recoiled as he dragged a barely conscious Annora backwards as far as he could until his back slammed up against a bookcase. What was the Gate doing here? Neither one of them had performed a human transmutation, so there was no reason for its appearance.

The heavy stone doors slowly slid open and Ed had a very good look at the multitude of violet eyes that stared out unblinkingly at him before several inky black arms shot out of the Gate's interior and disappeared into the forest of spines. An incredibly foul array of profanities were hurled – probably from Envy, if the voice was anything to go by – before the arms all withdrew, with several of them clutching at two particular figures. Ed got one good look at the expression of absolute terror plastered onto Lust and Gluttony's faces before the Gate slammed shut, with the two homunculi behind it. And then, without further ado, the Gate vanished without a single trace that it had ever been in the high school library.

Ed stared at the spot that the Gate had occupied for several long moments before he indulged in a good, long shudder. That had been close, _way_ too close. He let out a short sigh of relief as he looked down at Annora. The boy cocked an eyebrow when he realized that she had passed out – probably from a combination of blood loss and the blow to the head that she had taken earlier – and pulled Annora closer to him. He would figure out a how he would get her out of the library later; right now, all Ed wanted to do was lean back against the bookcase behind him and rest for a few moments.

A thought abruptly hit the alchemist, and he frowned as he sat up and scrutinized the thick nest of spikes closely. He had only seen Lust and Gluttony being pulled into the Gate, so where was Envy?

He received his answer in the form of a cluster of spikes being kicked forcefully aside by a thoroughly enraged homunculus, with Envy loudly spewing profanities with every jerk of his foot. Ed flinched as he stared at Envy, who looked more than a little pissed off as he directed a far less than sane glare in their direction and hauled himself out of the lethal prison that Annora had created.

"Shit," Ed hissed as he tried to both scoot backwards and find a way to carry Annora without hurting her at once. Envy didn't seem to care about his actions that indicated of escape as he stomped towards the alchemist purposefully, his face warped into a mask of pure homicidal rage.

"Hand over the girl, pipsqueak, and I won't kill you with her," the homunculus snarled threateningly as he drew closer. Ed opened his mouth to offer a scathing retort to the 'pipsqueak' comment, only to be cut off by the sound of one of the heavy library doors slamming open.

"No one's handing **anyone** over!" a familiar male voice spat out tersely, the statement accompanied by the very distinct sound of a rifle being cocked. "Now step away the hell from my sister, you faggot!"

"How very eloquent, Private. Why don't you just waltz right in front of him with a target painted on your back while you're at it? You already went and blew the element of surprise straight to hell with your idiocy."

"Why don't you put a sock in it, _**sir**_?"

"Didn't they teach you how to obey orders in Basic, _boy_?"

"Nah, they just taught us how to annoy the ever-loving hell out of arrogant bastards like you."

"That's called insubordination, Thomas. You would do well to remember it. Now address your commanding officers with respect."

"I will, once you pull your manners out of the sewer."

Ed fought the urge to groan as he realized from the voices that not only had Ethan arrived, but he had also brought Mustang along for the ride. The alchemist immediately scooted back out of sight behind another series of bookshelves – well out of Envy's line of sight – before he allowed the back of his head to collide once with the bookshelf as he looked imploringly up at the off-white ceiling tiles, and silently cursed whoever thought that it was so much fun to screw with his life. What had Annora called them once? Oh yeah, irony gods. As she had so eloquently put it at the time, 'they're the sick, twisted little bastards who have nothing better to do than sit around and get their kicks by screwing around with the lives of us lucky few'.

The sounds of battle erupted behind him, consisting of gunfire, swearing, and fingers snapping with eerie precision. The impromptu fight lasted only a few minutes before there was a round of incredibly vile curses from somewhere on Envy's end, and Ed was treated to the very interesting sight of the homunculus turning into something large and scaly before he fled out into the school hallway. Ed cocked an eyebrow slightly as he contemplated the homunculi's abrupt exit, only to be distracted by the sound of someone walking towards him.

"You know, I would just _love_ to see the cops try and explain this one," Ethan drawled as he leaned up against the bookcase that Ed had been hiding behind. However, his relaxed position almost instantly vanished when he took in Annora's limp form and immediately dropped down to his knees by his sister.

"She's okay, I think," Ed told him as he tried to shift the unconscious girl into a more comfortable position. "She just passed out."

Ethan gave the alchemist a skeptical look as he reached out and gently pressed two fingers against Annora's throat to make sure that she had a pulse. Once the soldier found what he was looking for, he let out a sigh of relief and let his hand drop slightly.

"She's still alive," he breathed out slowly, letting out a short laugh as he rocked back onto the heels of his feet and ran a hand over his cropped hair. Mustang, who had just come up behind the younger man, gave a disbelieving snort as he quickly and expertly scrutinized the injuries that Annora had accumulated – the majority of them from her trip through the window at the other end of the library.

"I would have pity for the residents of Hell if she had actually died," the Colonel drawled as he too crouched down by the limp girl before he gave Edward a stern look. "So Fullmetal, care to explain just where exactly we are?"

Ed looked startled for a moment before he grinned sarcastically at his commanding officer, a somewhat stressed glint appearing in his eyes.

"I don't know," he retorted pithily before he gave Ethan a wide grin that was downright evil. "Why don't you ask Private Thomas, Colonel? I'm sure that he knows, seeing as Annora's his sister."

Ethan scowled at Ed before he returned his attention back to Annora, prodding carefully at her arms and ribs as he checked to make sure that a concussion was the worst thing that his sister had.

"That's like asking your brother if he knows the reason why you're so damn short," he muttered darkly under his breath as he pressed his fingers against Annora's wrist to check her pulse again. Unfortunately for Ethan, the people at Central command had not been exaggerating when they had told him of the Fullmetal Alchemist's legendary temper. And they also had not been embellishing the truth when they had mentioned his pretty much non-existent patience whenever he was referred to in any way with a word that could possibly mean 'short'.

"WHO DID YOU SAY WAS AN ULTRA-SHORT KID?!" Ed roared as he tried to lunge for the older soldier, only to be restrained by Mustang.

"Fullmetal, would it kill you to actually act your age, for once?" the man growled out irritably. Ed scowled at him before he flipped his commanding officer the bird.

"Only if you act yours," he growled back.

All three of the males proceeded to glare at each other darkly, making the very air around them vibrate with tension.

(Dividing Line is supposed to be here)

"_She's okay, I think," Ed told him as he tried to shift the unconscious girl into a more comfortable position. "She just passed ou__t."_

_Ethan gave the alchemist a skeptical look as he reached out and gently pressed two fingers against Annora's throat to make sure that she had a pulse. Once the soldier found what he was looking for, he let out a sigh of relief and let his hand drop slightly._

"_She's still alive," he breathed out slowly, letting out a short laugh as he rocked back onto the heels of his feet and ran a hand over his cropped hair. Mustang, who had just come up behind the younger man, gave a disbelieving snort as he quickly and expertly scrutinized the injuries that Annora had accumulated – the majority of them from her trip through the window at the other end of the library._

"_I would have pity for the residents of Hell if she had actually died," the Colonel drawled as he too crouched down by the limp girl before he gave Edward a stern look. "So Fullmetal, care to explain just where exactly we are?"_

_Ed looked startled for a moment before he grinned sarcastically at his commanding officer, a somewhat stressed glint appearing in his eyes._

"_I don't know," he retorted pithily before he gave Ethan a wide grin that was downright evil. "Why don't you ask Private Thomas, Colonel? I'm sure that he knows, seeing as Annora's his sister."_

_Ethan scowled at Ed before he returned his attention back to Annora, prodding carefully at her arms and ribs as he checked to make sure that a concussion was the worst thing that his sister had._

"_That's like asking your brother if he knows the reason why you're so damn short," he muttered darkly under his breath as he pressed his fingers against Annora's wrist to check her pulse again. Unfortunately for Ethan, the people at Central command had not been exaggerating when they had told him of the Fullmetal Alchemist's legendary temper. And they also had not been embellishing the truth when they had mentioned his pretty much non-existent patience whenever he was referred to in any way with a word that could possibly mean 'short'._

"_WHO DID YOU SAY WAS AN ULTRA-SHORT KID?!" Ed roared as he tried to lunge for the older soldier, only to be restrained by Mustang._

"_Fullmetal, would it kill you to actually act your age, for once?" the man growled out irritably. Ed scowled at him before he flipped his commanding officer the bird._

"_Only if you act yours," he growled back._

_All three of the males proceeded to glare at each other darkly, making the very air around them vibrate with tension._

_Annora watched the scene unfolding before her with interest, wincing slightly as her head throbbed unexpectedly. It was weird. She was standing in some kind of dark void again, only it wasn't half as scary as when the Gate had been in her dream._

_If she wanted to be more precise, it was like she was standing in a large, dark room with a movie screen in front of her. On the screen was a rather grainy-looking movie of Ed, Mustang, and Ethan all arguing over her limp form while in her school library. The sound kept fading in and out, kind of like a bad recording. She winced slightly as Ed's voice rose to a distinctly uncomfortable pitch as he shouted at Mustang for some reason before it cut out completely._

_The silence was deafening as she watched the three males continue their argument, her skin prickling uncomfortably as she realized that she was probably the only living thing in the room. It was definitely a somewhat disturbing idea._

"_You can't stay here, you know."_

_The girl jerked at the strange voice before she turned around to face the speaker, hesitating when she realized that it was Ethan standing there while in his American army uniform._

"_What are you doing here?" she asked before she gestured at the room. "And where is here exactly?"_

_Ethan cocked an eyebrow before he raised his hands up in the air as a way of indicating that he had nothing to do with what was going on._

"_Hey, that's your call, not mine," Ethan said simply before he strode over to where she was standing, his military-issue tan boots thumping against the dark floor as he stopped and looked at the images on the screen speculatively. "I'm just a fragment of your psyche. You're the one in control here. You wanted something familiar here, someone to give you advice, so here I am." _

"_O-kay, that made absolutely no sense," Annora said flatly as she crossed her arms over her chest and gave her brother an annoyed look. "Could you be any more vague with that?"_

_The man gave her a sidelong glance before he shrugged noncommittally and returned his attention to the movie screen. Annora let out an irritated sigh as she rolled her eyes upwards before she shook her head. Ethan had always been annoying when he knew something that she didn't but usually he'd cave and tell her what was going on before she threatened to thump him. Obviously, this was going to be one of those rare cases where he flat-out refused to tell her anything._

_The teen waited for several moments for her brother to say something, only to slowly become more and more anxious. Whatever was going on, it was really starting to creep her out. Ethan was never this quiet when he was withholding information._

"_Ethan, what's going on?" she finally asked softly. The soldier looked over at her, and Annora was shocked by the solemn look on his face before he reached up and nervously ran a callused hand over his sandy cropped hair._

"_Annora, you need to wake up," he said seriously. "If you don't do it soon, you probably never will."_

"_Huh?"_

_At her confused reaction, Ethan finally lost his temper as he suddenly reached out and seized Annora by her shoulders and shook her firmly, his hazel eyes wide in panic._

"_Listen to me!" he snapped urgently. _"You need to wake up, now! If you don't, you'll die! Do you really want to put Mom and Dad through all of that grief just because you won't wake your stubborn ass up?!"

_The girl let out a startled yelp as she stared at her brother wide-eyed before she reacted almost automatically: she reached out and punched the man right in the nose._

"Son of a bitch!"

_Blood streamed from Ethan's nose as he released her suddenly, and Annora stumbled backwards as she attempted to get away from her brother, who had apparently lost his mind. Reaching up, she wiped at something wet and thick that had splattered across her face before she brought her hand down to see what it was. Thick tracks of crimson streaked across her hand, and Annora flinched as she realized that she had probably broken Ethan's nose._

_Before either one of them could say anything, the dark room suddenly exploded with a cacophony of sounds._

"Ethan Alexander Thomas, what are you doing?!"

"Sir, if you can't control yourself, I'm afraid that we'll have to ask you to leave the room."

"She's not brain dead, not yet! She just punched me in the nose; that's got to count for something!"

_Annora cursed softly as she spun around, trying to locate the source of the voices flooding the room, as well as the other sounds. What was going on? It sounded like an ER or something._

"Sir, this girl hasn't had any brain activity in several hours. I'm afraid that there's no plausible way for her to actually be alive."

"Bullshit!"

"Ethan, stop it!"

_For some reason, Ethan looked unusually pleased with himself as he crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring the blood streaming from his nose as he smirked at the darkened recesses of the room._

"_We did it," he remarked with a bloody grin before he looked over at Annora. The girl frowned as she realized that everything in front of her was fading. If this wasn't creepy, then she didn't know what was._

"_Ethan?" she asked hesitantly. He only grinned at her before he nodded encouragingly._

"_It's okay. You can go now," he said reassuringly as he gave her a thumbs-up. "Everything's gonna be alright now."_

_Annora tried to reach out to grab her brother, to try and demand an answer as to what was going on, only to stumble as soon as she took a step. For some reason, all of her strength seemed to have vanished, and a wave of nausea hit her as she looked at Ethan with wide eyes. What was happening to her?_

_The next thing she knew, she felt like she was falling._

CRASH!

"Don't you dare touch her, you bastards!"

"Somebody get security! We need to get him out of here before he hurts someone!"

"Ethan, knock it off!"

"I'm not leaving my sister! Now let me go!"

Annora let out a low groan as she slowly became aware of the chaos surrounding her, and winced as she heard her brother start roaring out a set of truly vile profanities. Apparently someone had really made him mad. The last time something had set him off this badly, it had been when he had caught one of the football players trying to stuff her into a trash can. The girl swallowed, and then winced as her throat screamed in protest.

Her throat felt like sandpaper, and her mouth tasted absolutely disgusting. Actually, to be honest, her mouth tasted like something had gone and committed suicide in it before being left to ferment for a month.

Suddenly, the chaos around her stepped up a notch, and Annora mentally cringed when she heard the voice of her cousin yelling at her brother to behave. Why was Kit here? Shouldn't she be in Portland?

"Ethan," she finally croaked out, and then flinched as her throat protested vehemently against the action. "Chill."

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that descended after her statement.

Before Annora could wonder at just what in the hell was going on, a pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her and lifted her up into a sitting position. One of the people in the room protested at the person's actions, but a low growl from the person holding her effectively cut of any protests.

"Annora?" Ethan suddenly asked softly, and Annora realized with a start that he was the one holding her. "Hey kiddo, can you hear me?"

The girl managed to force out a soft noise of ascent in response, wondering why her brother sounded frightened of whatever response she would make. Something was wrong with her. She couldn't think straight, and her entire mind felt like it was fogged up. Ethan tensed up slightly at the noise before he shifted in his spot.

"Somebody get me a glass of water or something," he demanded as he turned to look at whoever was standing closest to them. Annora frowned as she listened to someone run out of the room before she understood just what was wrong with this picture. She hadn't opened her eyes yet. She had been lying down on some kind of soft surface – probably a mattress or something – and she hadn't opened her eyes yet.

Annora immediately forced her eyes open – and couldn't prevent the strangled yelp that emerged from her throat as nothing but darkness greeted her.

"Ethan, I-" she stammered as tears welled up in her eyes, her throat closing up as a wave of terror washed over her. "I can't see!"

The man cursed softly before a set of callused fingertips brushed up against the side of her face.

"Here, hold still for a second," he told her gently. "I think I can fix that for you. If you can't see after I remove the bandages though, then we're in trouble."

Bandages? Why on earth would she have bandages over her eyes? Just what was going on? Nothing was making any sense to her.

Annora sat stiffly in her spot as her brother lightly held her while he slowly unwrapped the bandages over her eyes, muttering a steady stream of nonsensical words in an attempt to comfort the terrified girl. The second that she felt the last strip of fabric fell away from her face Annora forced her eyes open, only to yelp and instinctively slam them shut as blinding white light seared her retinas.

"Bright," she muttered, sounding like a five-year-old as she turned her face away from the source of the light. Ethan muttered something that he had probably learned from his drill sergeant under his breath before he picked his sister up and settled her down on his lap, allowing her head to rest against his chest. Annora relaxed visibly as she listened to the steady thump of her brother's heart, feeling for all the world like a little kid.

She felt so weak, almost like someone had drained away all of her strength. What was wrong with her?

The girl frowned slightly as a nagging hint of a memory came to her, and she remembered a deranged fanged grin, accompanied by an androgynous, mocking voice and insane violet eyes.

"_Aw, what's wrong? Can't the little bitch keep the promises that she makes? After all, I thought you said that would kick my ass. What is that belief that you stupid humans have? Oh yes, Equivalent Exchange. So tell me, girl, do you think that Equivalent Exchange will save you now?"_

Whoever the person was, they knew her. Were they the reason why she couldn't even sit up without help? The voice was important, of that much she was certain.

A series of pained grunts, followed by an irritated female voice growling out death threats, broke Annora's already scattered concentration, and the thought slipped away just as quickly as it had come. Before she could say anything, the rim of a cup was lightly pressed up against her lips, and the teen immediately started to gulp down the cool water inside. She was so thirsty.

"Hey, cool it there," Ethan admonished softly as he tilted the cup back slightly so that she could only take small sips. "It's not going anywhere, so just take little sips. I really don't want you to be sick."

Annora complied with her brother's request as she took several long sips of the coveted water before she leaned back against Ethan's chest with a soft sigh. That little action had completely wiped her out. The cup was removed, and a hand slowly started stroking her hair in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. Finally, once she thought that her eyes had recovered adequately from being blinded earlier, Annora slowly allowed her eyes to slide open.

She was in a dim hospital room, with the door being blocked by a very scowly-looking Kit, who occasionally looked over her shoulder to glare at the orderlies that were currently trying to crowd their way in. Her cousin did not look like a happy camper, although she did spare the time to flash Annora a reassuring smile when she saw the younger girl looking at her curiously. The girl frowned before she allowed her head to fall back against Ethan's chest, where he resumed running his fingers through her hair.

"Ethan, what's going on?" she finally asked. Her brother froze before he twisted around so that he could look her in the eyes, a look of abject concern on his face.

"Don't you remember?"

Annora shook her head in response, and the expression on Ethan's face darkened considerably. He scowled at nothing in particular before he shook his head and sighed.

"Do you remember how you always ride the bus home from school every day?" he asked quietly. Annora shrugged slightly before she nodded, and Ethan let out an exhausted groan in response. "Annora, three months ago your bus was in a serious accident. A semi truck crashed into the side and flipped the entire bus into a drainage ditch. You've been in a coma ever since then."

(Divinging line is supposed to be here)

(Wandering Hitokiri swallows nervously and grins sheepishly at the mass of readers before she runs and hides in a bunker. A large sign with red lettering is left out in plain sight with a single word on it.)

Sorry!

I know that I pretty much fell off the face of the earth and died, and now I come and gift you guys with this evil chapter, but I had to do it. I really want to finish this story, but the plot just went and died on me. This is the last official chapter, but there will be an epilogue.

Please don't kill me?


	30. Chapter 26: Feels Like the End

"You can't always expect my usual brand of stupidity. Sometimes I like to mix it up. Keeps you on your toes." – Patrick Star

**Epilogue:**

**Asinus Sum**

Annora let out a long sigh as she reached up to run a hand through her hair, wincing visibly when her fingers hit air far too quickly for her tastes. Her hair had been cut while she had still been in her coma, and right now it didn't even brush against her shoulders.

The girl sighed again as she allowed herself to fall back against the back of her wheelchair, only to scowl darkly when the motion sent her backwards a few inches. It was another unwelcome change, something that rankled against her already wounded pride. Her legs muscles had atrophied while she had been unconscious, and now she couldn't even walk on her own, much less stand up for any length of time. For someone who had always been very independent, being forced to rely upon Kit to help her get dressed in the morning, as well as helping her shower was downright humiliating.

Still, it could have been worse.

Five of the kids that had been on the bus with her when the accident happened had been killed. Several others had been badly injured, but she had been the only one who had been put into a coma.

The sound of footsteps padding across the wooden floorboards behind Annora caused her to snap out of her funk before she reached down and clumsily turned the wheels so that she could spin her wheelchair around. Katie stopped short as her friend turned around to face her before she flashed the brunette a somewhat sheepish grin.

"Still not used to that," she admitted hesitantly as she handed the other girl a brightly-wrapped package. Annora rolled her eyes in response as she set the package down on her lap before she reached over and lightly punched Katie on the arm.

"Katie, **I'm** still not used to this," she pointed out. She hesitated for a moment before she gave her friend a half-hearted smirk. "Besides, this is probably the only way that you'll ever be taller than me."

It was at that moment that the front door burst in, and a familiar skort-wearing homunculus crashed into the living room. Annora's jaw dropped as she gaped at Envy, her mind short-circuiting as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Annora!" he cried in a strangled voice, racing toward her. He flung himself onto the ground in front of her and buried his face somewhere in the vicinity of her knee. "Annie," he said in muffled tones, "Annie, my dear, sweet Annie. Don't you know how much I love you?"

Annora's eyes bugged out before she made a strangled, gasping noise. "Dear. God."

He went on as if he hadn't heard her. "I've been following you everywhere! You can imagine how difficult it was to find you here, but love prevailed and I have finally found you!" He looked up at her with limpid violet orbs.

She realized suddenly that he wasn't lying. The expression currently on his face was one of the most disgusting she had ever seen in her life.

"I think I'm going to vomit," the girl finally said in a strangled voice, dimly aware of the fact that Katie was sitting next to her and making noises roughly equivalent to a landed carp.

"Come away with me!" he insisted, standing up abruptly and pulling her into his arms. "We'll go far away and be together forever!" He lifted her from the wheelchair and held her bridal style, close to his chest.

"What? Where the hell are you taking me? Let me go!" Annora struggled to break free.

"I'll take you wherever our love guides us, Annie!"

"Will you _stop_ calling me that?" she snarled.

Envy made toward the door, ignoring her protests. Just as he had reached the threshold, however, another figure appeared, not in the doorway, but in the window.

Sun glittered off the figure, sending little rainbows across the room like a sparkly crystal disco ball.

"Stop," said the new intruder as he came gracefully through the window. He spoke in a voice that sounded as if he was used to random women falling in love with him whenever he opened his mouth to speak. It wasn't as romantic as it sounds; Annora gagged.

"What?" Envy dropped her on the ground, causing the girl to let out a pained, and very indignant, yelp. "Who are you?" He rounded on the newcomer.

"I am Cullen. Edward Cullen," he said with a pompous shake of his head. "And I am here to claim the woman I love."

Annora stared in avid horror at the amber-eyed figure in her living room before she started to drag herself away from the scene. She had no intention whatsoever of staying in the same room as those two nutters. Katie, on the other hand, was gaping at Edward with the air of one who had just seen the second coming of Christ.

"He… he is real," she breathed reverently before she shot up to her feet. "Edward, take me with you!"

He hardly looked at her, pulling her out of his way and carefully setting her aside as he advanced on Annora. "You…you are like…_her_. I've never been the same since she overdosed on Ambien. Who would have thought she was so emo she'd kill herself when her life started working out for her?" He shook his head and continued in as bright a voice as a vampire could manage, "But that's all over. I know who I love now. Annora, marry me!"

She let out a gasp, but only because he had pulled her into his arms and was squeezing the breath from her. "Annora, you are as delicious as a charbroiled hamburger with mushrooms on it! Say you will be mine!" He looked down at her with eyes that swam with emotion as he added, "I no longer have any qualms about turning helpless women into vampires. I am in tune with my controlling, over-protective, foppish self! You won't be sorry! I always look good in tight pants!"

"Uh, no, how about you piss off and leave me the hell alone?" Annora managed to force out as she tried ineffectively to shove the inhumanly strong vampire away from her. "Sorry, but I draw the line at necrophilia."

The sound of Envy growling low in his throat behind them caught Edward's attention, and he glanced over at the homunculus before he lifted up his nose in a dismissive gesture.

"Back off, you worm!" Envy snarled furiously. "She's mine!"

It was just then that Katie piped up in a musing tone, "Wait, wait, wait, I didn't realize that vampires could overdose on Ambien. I mean, Bella _was_ a vampire after all, wasn't she?"

Edward shrugged. "Does it matter? I have _her_ now!" he declared with altogether too much enthusiasm. Annora felt sure she'd have finger-shaped bruises on her arm and leg where Edward gripped her tightly against him. He was quite possessive.

"Dude, I suggest that you let me go, right _now_," she growled as she glanced over at the vampire, shifting enough in his arms so that she could look him in the eyes. "Otherwise, so help me _God_, I will break off that sparkly arm of yours and stuff it so far up your marble Casper-white ass that you'll be able to flip people off with your mouth!"

He smiled at her in a very infuriating way. "I am quite certain that is impossible while you are still human. Of course, you are welcome to try if it will help you relieve some of the stress of my proposal. I understand if it is a bit too much to take in all at once. I apologize, but my love for you is too great for me to keep hidden!"

A look of absolute disgust crossed the girl's face as she tried to wriggle out of Edward's arms. "Dude, it's not hidden, it's not even there!"

"Nonsense. My love for you burns as brightly as the sun!"

It was at that moment that Katie decided to pipe up once again. "Well, I don't know about his love, but his pants certainly are happy." After a moment, she added, "You know… I wonder how that even works with vampires… Gross."

"That's enough!" Annora managed to wriggle out of Edward's grasp for the sole reason that Envy had suddenly attacked the young, dreadfully handsome vampire (that wasn't Annora's opinion).

It was at that moment that a young man – probably somewhere around the same age as Annora's cousin, Kit – came down the stairs, his droopy purple eyes narrowing slightly as he looked between the vampire and the homunculus.

"What the hell is going on down here?" he growled, the tone of his voice indicating that if he didn't receive a satisfactory answer, someone was going to die.

Slowly.

Annora's eyes widened as she recognized her cousin's boyfriend before she let out a sigh of relief.

"Sanzo!" The man looked over at her – and her rather precarious state – before he frowned, his eyes narrowing underneath a mop of blonde hair.

"Who the hell are they?" he demanded, jerking a thumb irritably over at Edward and Envy. Annora shrugged slightly before she offered the older man a sheepish grin.

"Crazy people?"

Sanzo let out an annoyed sigh as he reached up and massaged the bridge of his nose, muttering something under his breath about them being 'worse than that damn cockroach'. Envy scowled up at the other man before he took a step forward and sneered defiantly.

"Are you here to abduct my love as well?"

Sanzo stared flatly at him for a few seconds before he pulled a Smith and Wesson pistol out from the waistband of his jeans and shot the homunculus right between the eyes. A strange ringing sound accompanied the gunshot, and Envy wavered unsteadily for a second before he dissolved into a heap of black dust/goo. Annora relaxed visibly at the sight of at least _one_ of her harassers being eliminated.

"Idiot," the man grumbled as he shook his head. Edward seemed to take the fact that Envy had been shot first as a sign of acceptance, because he chose to sweep Annora up into his arms once again, hugging the startled girl close to his cold chest as he did so.

Unfortunately, Sanzo seemed to be strongly disinclined to agree with him, seeing as he fired off another shot at the vampire, drilling a hole right in the middle of Edward's perfect white forehead. Annora landed flat on her backside as all of Edward's limbs went slack, and he seemed to stagger drunkenly for several seconds as he glared angrily at the other man before he dissolved into a pile of glittery dust. The pile of sparkly dust lingered there for a second before it was swept away by a strong wind that came through the broken front door.

"Everywhere I go, there are idiots," Sanzo growled as he shook his head before he looked over at Katie, who was still standing in the middle of the room with a horrified look on her face. "You. Girl," he jabbed a finger in her direction before he indicated over towards Annora. "Help her back into the wheelchair, and then get this mess cleaned up."

With that statement, he spun around on his heel and stalked back up the stairs to help Kit finish with packing up Annora's things.

* * *

This is what happens when rabid fangirls start dictating to me how I should write my stories. If you can't take it seriously, good for you. If you can, or wish to try, good luck.

For those of you who don't take this seriously, I hope that you got a few laughs from this.

By the way, for all of you _Twilight_ fans, I take the entire _Twilight_ series about a seriously as everyone else takes this post. Please do not flame me about the defamation of Edward's character, because you will not like the results.

This is all pretty much crack, so don't take this seriously.


	31. Epilogue: Walk Away

"If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?" – Lois McMaster Bujold

**Epilogue:**

**Walk Away**

Annora let out a long sigh as she reached up to run a hand through her hair, wincing visibly when her fingers hit air far too quickly for her tastes. Her hair had been cut while she had still been in her coma, and right now it didn't even brush against her shoulders.

The girl sighed again as she allowed herself to fall back against the back of her wheelchair, only to scowl darkly when the motion sent her backwards a few inches. It was another unwelcome change, something that rankled against her already wounded pride. Her legs muscles had atrophied while she had been unconscious, and now she couldn't even walk on her own, much less stand up for any length of time. For someone who had always been very independent, being forced to rely upon Kit to help her get dressed in the morning, as well as helping her shower was downright humiliating.

Still, it could have been worse.

Five of the kids that had been on the bus with her when the accident happened had been killed. Several others had been badly injured, but she had been the only one who had been put into a coma.

The sound of footsteps padding across the wooden floorboards behind Annora caused her to snap out of her funk before she reached down and clumsily turned the wheels so that she could spin her wheelchair around. Katie stopped short as her friend turned around to face her before she flashed the brunette a somewhat sheepish grin.

"Still not used to that," she admitted hesitantly as she handed the other girl a brightly-wrapped package. Annora rolled her eyes in response as she set the package down on her lap before she reached over and lightly punched Katie on the arm.

"Katie, **I'm** still not used to this," she pointed out. She hesitated for a moment before she gave her friend a half-hearted smirk. "Besides, this is probably the only way that you'll ever be taller than me."

The other girl nodded half-heartedly in agreement before she sank down on the couch next Annora and looked around at the room. An uneasy look crossed her face before she let out a sigh and slumped forward, running a hand over her hair agitatedly as she stared down at the hardwood floor. Annora just remained silent, knowing full good and well that her friend would tell her what was on her mind when she wanted to.

"You're really leaving today, aren't you?" she finally asked. The brunette offered a crooked grin in response, although her expression of forced cheerfulness faded when she noticed that Katie wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, I am."

"Crap."

A short, humorless laugh tumbled out of Annora's mouth in response as she shook her head.

"That's kind of what I said."

Katie didn't say anything as she directed her gaze downwards, apparently fascinated with the toes of her shoes. The older girl stared at her friend in a kind of annoyed exasperation before she reached out and lightly hit her on the arm.

"Kate, it's not forever," Annora pointed out with a roll of her eyes, trying to keep some of the uncertainty that she was feeling out of her voice. She did not need her friend freaking out on her right now. Already she was having problems with the fact that she was disabled.

She couldn't go upstairs to get something anymore. She had to sleep on the couch downstairs because her room was on the second floor, although Ethan had carried her up and down the stairs on the first day that she'd been home, saying that she deserved to at least be able to sleep in her own bed for one night. And now, to top everything off, she was being moved to Portland, Oregon to live with her older cousin until her parents finally got back from China.

"But-" Katie began before she fell silent, and then shook her head slightly. "But Annora, you're going to be in _Portland_. That like, I don't know, the weed capital of the _world_."

Honestly, she couldn't help it. Annora stared at her friend incredulously for several moments before she burst out laughing. Here she was, stuck in a wheelchair after waking up from a coma, and her best friend was worried about her going to Portland because people sold marijuana in stores there.

The irony was almost overwhelming, really, it was.

After a few seconds, Katie started to chuckle as well when she realized why Annora was laughing so hard. The two friends stood there for several seconds, snickering loudly at their own foolish thoughts. It was kind of ironic, if they really thought about it. Out of all the things in the world for Katie to worry about, she was more worried about the hippies and stoners in Oregon who sold pot than Annora's plane crashing, or being hijacked by terrorists.

The two girls settled into a comfortable silence as Katie slowly sank down into a nearby chair and Annora maneuvered herself over towards where her friend was sitting.

"Well, at least I won't have any trouble finding a place to sit now," Annora said suddenly as she cast a sideways glance in her friend's direction before she looked down at the package in her lap. "So spill; what'd you get me?"

"How about you open it first?"

"I'll open it when I want to. Besides, what if some evil, slimy, puke-inducing thing is in that package? I might get my face eaten off just because you didn't bother to check what was in the box before you wrapped it up."

Katie just rolled her eyes in response.

"Stop being so paranoid and just open it," she muttered as she shook her head in exasperation.

Annora flashed her an impish smirk before she ripped all of the paper off of the box in a single swift move, and then easily opened up the flimsy cardboard underneath. When the girl saw what was in the box, however, she froze in her seat as several shreds of wrapping paper suddenly slipped out of her numb fingertips.

Nestled inside of the box, a pair of eerily familiar golden eyes stared up at her from behind a thin plastic barrier, with strands of golden bangs falling into the face of a deceptively young-looking figure. Annora's breath caught in her throat as she gingerly extracted the figurine from its nest of tissue paper, gently running her fingertips over the garish red trench coat that the golden-haired male was wearing, as well as the painted gray armor of the looming figure that stood with his back to the shorter male.

"Katie-" Annora began hesitantly before she shook her head in an attempt to dislodge all of the half-remembered fragments running through her head and returned the intricate figurine to its tissue-lined box. "Thank you. It's… it's fantastic."

Katie beamed at the compliment to her gift-giving skills.

Before either of the girls could speak further on the subject (and Annora really didn't want to do that, seeing as Katie would probably think that she was nuts even she ever knew why her gift had startled the older girl so badly), Kit walked into the room and let out a short sigh.

"Alrighty then," she said as she looked in between the two teens. "Time to get this show on the road, people. Annora, finish saying goodbye to your friend real quick, and then we'll leave. We don't want to miss our flight."

"Yeah, that would be a bad thing," the brunette girl agreed as she glanced over at her cousin. Kristen Fargo, with the perpetual impish glint in her blue eyes and long brown hair, looked like the poster child for someone's kindly older sister. In all honesty, Annora had never pictured her cousin as the kind of person who would willingly give up space in her own home to help care for a debilitated relative.

Katie effectively disrupted these thoughts as she suddenly embraced Annora in a tight, almost rib-crushing hug. The girl endured it for as long as she thought she could before severe damage to her internal organs occurred, and was just about to gently remind Katie that air was a very valuable thing when Kit interfered.

"Hey kiddo, I think that she needs to breathe."

Katie immediately released the other girl, and Annora gratefully sucked in a deep breath before she leaned back in her wheelchair.

"Sorry," Katie muttered softly, and the older girl gave her a slightly wane grin as she shook her head before she reached up and lightly punched her friend on the arm.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "It's not like I'm made of glass or anything."

Katie nodded before she started to head over towards the door. "Annora, I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Kate. Don't worry too much, okay? I'll be back before you know it."

The raven-haired girl let out a sigh as she shook her head. "You better."

"Hey, I promised, didn't I?" Annora asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to grin in a self-assured manner. "Since when have I ever gone back on a promise?"

Katie seemed to accept the statement at face value, and allowed Kit to escort her to the front door as Annora sat there in the living room, trying her hardest not to stare down at the figurine that sat innocuously in her lap. She didn't really remember what had taken place during her coma, not entirely, but she still had flashes of memory from time to time. There were only a few things that she remembered clearly; Edward Elric, and his brother Alphonse happened to be one of them.

The girl frowned slightly as she picked up the figurine and slowly started to turn it around in her hands, her brown eyes narrowing slightly as she studied the determined expression on the anime character's face. Suddenly, a familiar cocky voice came to mind, and Annora almost dropped the statuette in shock.

"_If only security was as tight as Mustang's ass, we wouldn't have to get involved in anything in the first place!"_

She stared at the figurine in a kind of stunned realization before she shook her head and gently set it back down on her lap.

"Fantastic. I've gone crazy," Annora whispered dryly as she shook her head. "This is _great_. Just what I need. More bullshit."

Kit chose that moment to come back inside, and she looked around at the empty room, her eyes briefly lingering on the small pet carrier resting on the couch that contained one incredibly annoyed chinchilla who was doing his level best to chew his way out, before she looked over at Annora.

"You ready to go?" she asked softly, and the girl looked up at her before she wheeled her way over to the pet carrier. Annora picked up the figurine that Katie had given her and stared at it for several moments, an odd look in her eyes, before she set it down on the coffee table and picked up Rembrandt's cage. The chinchilla went over to the woven mesh of the front flap and started to shake it back and forth angrily, chirping irritably at his mistress the entire time.

A wistful smile crossed Annora's face before she set the carrier down on her lap and wheeled her way back over to Kit, with Remmy 'barking' the entire way.

"Now I am," she said simply.

Kit looked like she wanted to say something for a moment before she shook her head and gently wheeled her cousin out the front door. Annora watched the older woman lock the front door to her childhood home as she sat out on the front porch, before she glanced over her shoulder at the shuttle that was supposed to take them out to the tiny Flagstaff airport so they could catch their connector flight out to Sky Harbor in Phoenix. Everything was changing for her.

For a single moment, the figurine flashed through the girl's mind, followed shortly by the memory of a short, foul-tempered blonde with amber eyes, before Annora shook her head in an effort to dislodge the thought. She forced herself to think about something else as Kit slowly wheeled her down the driveway towards the shuttle awaiting them, and held Remmy's carrier protectively in her arms as she was loaded onto the wheelchair-access lift on the shuttle. The girl didn't even allow herself to glance back at her house as they pulled away from the curb, just in case her thoughts tried to betray her.

Sometimes, some things were better left behind.

* * *

Well, here's the end of the line for this story. It's been a long and interesting haul, and after working on it for over three years, I can say that I've throughly enjoyed it. I just want to say thank you to everyone that has ever reviewed , and to everyone who has favorited or alerted this story. There are so many of you that I can probably take up an entire page listing everyone, so I won't. But still, thank you.

This is Wandering Hitokiri, signing off.

See ya on the flip side.


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